page_title: Olympic Games
section_title: Winter Games
hierarchical_section_title: Olympic Games / Modern Games / Changes and adaptations / Winter Games
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Die große Winter-Olympiade in St. Moritz! Neueste Aufnahmen von unserem nach St. Moritz entsandten Sonder-Bild-Berichterstatter. Olympische Eishockeyspiele in St. Moritz! Die canadische und schwedische Eishockeymannschaft nach dem großen Siege der Canadier, den voraussichtlichen Olympia-Siegern.
context_page_description: The modern Olympic Games or Olympics are leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games are considered the world's foremost sports competition with more than 200 nations participating. The Olympic Games are normally held every four years, alternating between the Summer and Winter Games every two years in the four-year period.
  Their creation was inspired by the ancient Olympic Games, which were held in Olympia, Greece, from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD. Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee in 1894, leading to the first modern Games in Athens in 1896. The IOC is the governing body of the Olympic Movement, with the Olympic Charter defining its structure and authority.
  The evolution of the Olympic Movement during the 20th and 21st centuries has resulted in several changes to the Olympic Games.
context_section_description: The Winter Olympics was created to feature snow and ice sports that were logistically impossible to hold during the Summer Games. Figure skating (in 1908 and 1920) and ice hockey (in 1920) were featured as Olympic events at the Summer Olympics. The IOC desired to expand this list of sports to encompass other winter activities. At the 1921 Olympic Congress in Lausanne, it was decided to hold a winter version of the Olympic Games. A winter sports week (it was actually 11 days) was held in 1924 in Chamonix, France, in connection with the Paris Games held three months later; this event became the first Winter Olympic Games. Although it was intended that the same country host both the Winter and Summer Games in a given year, this idea was quickly abandoned. The IOC mandated that the Winter Games be celebrated every four years in the same year as their summer counterpart. This tradition was upheld through the 1992 Games in Albertville, France; after that, beginning with the 1994 Games, the Winter Olympics were held every four years, two years after each Summer Olympics.
caption: Ice hockey game during the 1928 Winter Olympics at St. Moritz
exif: {}