Let’s take a step back or forward in time to visit what has truly been a dazzling experience. In the past we have been awed by the Winter Olympics and the fascinating display of not just our U.S. athletes, but those from around the world.
We used to hear the hype leading up to these fantastic athletic events that oohed and awed us for days. Let’s once again hunger for the upcoming Winter Olympics that will be held Friday, Feb 4, 2022 to Sunday Feb 20, 2022.
So what do you know? Did you know that figure skating and ice hockey were originally a summer debut? These are, no doubt, two of the most popular disciplines at the Winter Olympics. However, their Olympic origins actually began at the Summer Games!
Figure skating as the oldest winter sport in Olympic history was added to the Summer Olympic Games in 1908 and then transitioned to the inaugural Winter Olympics in 1924. Ice hockey made its debut 12 years later in Antwerp.
The 1924 Olympics in Chamonix, France were the first Winter Olympic Games. Perhaps, in a way to ensure it would be a success, 10,004 people were paid to watch.
Then there was the time when horses and dogs stole the show in the Winter Olympics. Equestrianism (horseback riding) has been a part of the Summer Olympic program for years, but did you know that at one point, animals were also included at the Winter Olympics?
Scandinavian skijoring is a sport in which competitors wear skis and clutch reins attached to a wooden harness fitted onto one or more horses, ponies or dogs. It made a sole appearance as a demonstration event at St Moritz 1928, with three Swiss sleds (pulled by horses, for this event). In 1932 at the Lake Placid Winter Games, sled dog racing made a brief appearance as a demonstration sport.
A total of 258 athletes from 16 countries competed at the first Olympic Winter Games in Chamonix in 1924. In PyeongChang 2018, there were 2,925 athletes from 92 nations.
The 1980 Winter Olympics were the “Miracle on Ice” for America. In one of the most dramatic upsets in Olympic history, the underdog U.S. hockey team, made up of college players, defeated the four-time defending gold-medal winning Soviet team at the XIII Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York with a 4–3 win.
The Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland boycotted the 1956 Olympics in protest of the Soviet Union presence in reference to of their recent crushing of the Hungarian Revolution. The People’s Republic of China chose to boycott the event because Taiwan had been allowed to compete.
The 1964 Winter Innsbruck games were threatened by a lack of snow until the Austrian Army delivered 50,000 cubic yards of the fluffy stuff. Ironically, a heavy snowfall hit Innsbruck immediately after the Games had ended!
The oldest person to receive a medal at the Olympic Winter Games is Anders Haugen. He competed in 1924 but didn’t get his bronze medal until 50 years later because of a scoring error. US Alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin brought 35 pairs of skis with her to PyeongChang 2018.
Yang Yang was the People’s Republic of China’s first ever champion at the Olympic Winter Games by winning the women’s 500m short track at Salt Lake City 2002. Debra Thomas became the first black athlete to medal at the Winter Olympics after she won bronze in figure skating at the 1988 Games in Calgary.
Until 1992, the Olympic Summer Games and the Olympic Winter Games were held in the same year. To date, 12 countries have participated in every Olympic Winter Games – Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. The Olympic Winter Games have never been hosted in the southern hemisphere.
The only country to have won a gold medal at every Olympic Winter Games is the United States. The Biathlon is the only Winter Olympic event the US has not medaled in. Norwegian athletes have won the most medals since its inception. Surprisingly enough, Iceland is one of the countries that has never medaled at the Winter Olympics.
U.S. ice hockey player Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson scored the fastest two goals by one player at a Winter Olympics – just six seconds apart at PyeongChang 2018. Finland’s Kalle Jalkanen won the 1936 cross-country skiing relay despite picking up his dentures he’d accidentally spat on the snow.
The youngest female snowboarding gold medalist is America’s Chloe Kim, at 17 in PyeonChang in 2018. Ester Ledecka became the first person to win two gold medals at the same Olympic Winter Games in two sports – Alpine skiing and snowboarding.
Curling is one of the oldest team sports and is named after the unique turning that occurs at the end of the stone’s path on the ice. The stone used in curling is made of rare, dense granite that is quarried on Scotland’s Ailsa Craig.
It’s hard enough to qualify to compete at the Olympic Games, let alone win a medal – but imagine reaching the podium in two different sports in two different seasons! You may be surprised to learn that five athletes have achieved this incredible feat.
Norwegian Jacob Thams won the gold medal in ski jumping (Chamonix 1924) and silver in sailing (Berlin 1936). German Christa Luding-Rothenburger won two golds and two silver medals in speed skating (Calgary 1988 and Albertville 1992), as well as another silver in track cycling (Seoul 1988).
Canadian Clara Hughes won a total of six medals competing in speed skating and road cycling: gold, silver and two bronze in speed staking (Salt Lake City 2002, Torino 2006 and Vancouver 2010); plus two bronze medals in road cycling (Atlanta 1996).
American Lauryn Williams is the most recent member of this exclusive club, having won gold in the 4 x 100m relay at London 2012 and silver in the 100m in Athens in 2004, as well as a silver medal in the women’s bobsleigh at Sochi 2014.
Eddie Eagan is the only person to win a gold medal in the Winter and Summer Olympics in different events. American Eddie Eagan won gold in the light-heavyweight boxing event in the 1920 Antwerp Summer Games. 12 years later, he was a member of the four-man bobsled team that won gold in the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid.
Talk about awkward. Boy, this is awkward. Two separate hockey teams (backed by rival hockey associations) arrived at the 1948 St. Moritz Winter Games, each claiming to be the rightful participant on America’s behalf. The team backed by the American Hockey Association (which was composed of professional hockey players) was ultimately recognized as the official American team.
We’ve talked about the Games in general, but what sports will we get to see? The current sports consists of Bobsleigh, Cross-Country Skiing, Curling, Figure Skating, Freestyle Skiing, Ice Hockey, Luge, Nordic Combined, Short Track Speed Skating, Skeleton, Ski Jumping, Snowboard, Speed Skating, Alpine Skiing, and Biathlon. Stay tuned for more history and info on each of these. Boy, Skeleton, what the heck is that?