Original: Sapporo was selected to be the host of the fifth edition Winter Olympics scheduled February 3-12 , 1940 , but Japan gave the Games back to the IOC in July 1938 , after the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 .
Simplified: The 1940 Winter Olympics , should have been held in Sapporo , Japan , on February 3 - 12 , 1940 .