At the many ski schools, children learn through play how to develop their skiing ability. Every year thousands of children take part in Children's Day in Holmenkollen, where play is combined with competitive events. The Norwegian royal family has contributed a great deal towards making skiing a national sport. In 1952 Norway staged the Winter Olympics. Through hosting this event in 1994, in Lillehammer, it consolidated its position as a sports nation with particularly solid traditions in the field of winter sports.
Skis are an ancient form of locomotion on snow.
For thousands of years ski tracks have criss-crossed an immense area from Norway, Sweden and Finland in the west, through Siberia and as far east as the Pacific coast. The central Nordic ski type, which was first made in the Middle Ages, was entirely different to those of today. One ski, of about 3 metres in length, was used together with a shorter ski or andor. This allowed the skier to kick off more efficiently. This type of ski was abandoned around 1700 in favour of skis of the same length.