IMAGES: GETTY. WORDS: LISELI THOMAS


TRAVEL TALK


THE INFO Winter Olympics


IT’S BEEN A CENTURY SINCE THE GLOBAL GAMES FIRST EMBRACED SNOW AND ICE. HERE’S A CLOSER LOOK AT HOW THE EVENT HAS EVOLVED OVER THE DECADES


First held in Chamonix, France in 1924, the Winter


Olympic Games will return to their birthplace for the centenary celebrations, which will include a


programme of cultural exhibitions and sporting events 1 0


The number of women who competed in the 1924 Winter Olympics, out of 258 athletes.


11


Until the 1936 Games, figure skating was the only sport women were allowed to enter


20,000 THE NUMBER OF ICE BLOCKS


CARVED FROM THE MOUNTAINSIDE BY THE AUSTRIAN ARMY FOR THE LUGE AND BOBSLEIGH TRACKS AT THE 1964 GAMES IN INNSBRUCK


156 NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.COM/TRAVEL 85 miles per hour


THE TOP SPEED REACHED BY ATHLETES WHIZZING HEAD- FIRST DOWNHILL IN THE SKELETON EVENT


MILESTONE MOMENTS


1924


Originally titled ‘Winter Sports Week’, the event includes bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey and speed skating


The event returns as the ‘Games of Renewal’ in St Moritz, Switzerland after a 12-year hiatus caused by the Second World War


1980 1948


Lake Placid, US becomes the first host to use artificial snow to guarantee all events could run during an unusually dry winter


2022


Beijing makes history as the first city in the world to have hosted both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games


148 2 billion


The number of people who watched the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. More tuned in via television and social media than ever before


Sources: chamonix.com olympics.com statista.com thebbsa.co.uk


THE TOTAL NUMBER OF GOLD MEDALS WON BY NORWAY AT


THE WINTER OLYMPICS, TOPPING THE ALL-TIME MEDAL TABLE


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