50 Crazy Facts About The Winter Olympics

50 CRAZY FACTS ABOUT THE WINTER OLYMPICS Since 1924 the Winter Olympics have been a staple favourite of skiers, snowboarders, bobsleighers and skaters. The next games are set to take place in 2014 in Sochi, Russia. So with that in mind, here's a look at the history of the winter games. THE BASICS The first winter games in 1924 saw 16 NATIONS compete in 16 events in 6 sports in 3 venues. The first Winter Olympics were held in 1924 in Chamonix, France. The games used to be held the same year as the summer this changed between the 1992 France and games 1994 Norway winter games. 1.8BN PEOPLE worldwide watched at least a minute of the coverage of Vancouver 2010 on the TV. There are now seven categories of sports in the winter games: Biathlon Bobsleigh Curling Ice Hockey Luge Skating Skiing WINNERS LICHTENSTEIN has won more medals per capita than any other nation. It has so far won nine medals, all in Alpine skiing. Bjorn Daehlie Norway has won the most medals at the winter games with a total of is the most successful winter games competitor - the Norwegian cross-country skier has eight golds and four silvers to his name. 303 GREAT BRITAIN received its medals 54 years and 101 days the age of the oldest winter gold medal winner, Great Britain curler Robin Welsh Sr (1924). for its victory in 1924's curling event in 2006. 13 years and 85 days the age of the youngest winter gold medal winner, /South Korean speed skater Yun-Mi Kim (1994). Two men won medals in 1928, and after a 20 year gap, won medals again in 1948. American luger John Heaton and Swiss ice-hockey player Richard Torriani. FOUR ATHLETES have won medals in both the winter and summer games, in different sports. "EDDIE THE EAGLE" Dubbed TRIED AND FAILED "the world's worst ski jumper" to enter another games - but did get selected to be a torch-bearer at Found fame at the 1988 Calgary games due to his memorable image and record of finishing last every time Vancouver 2010. +3 Went on to have a top 50 single in the UK and two hits in Finland Prompted a rule change (known as The Eddie Rule') to stop those failing to meet a certain standard from being allowed to compete. THE JAMAICAN BOBSLED TEAM The team was only started four months before the Again a sensation at Calgary 1988, this unlikely national team inspired the Disney film Calgary games. COOL RUNNINGS Despite crashing out in the finals, the Jamaican bobsled team were hailed as national WarDiney COOL RUNNINGS FIN SH heroes - stamps featuring their faces were issued. JAMAICA MICHAEL WILLIAMS was inspired to attempt to enter the 2014 Sochi games as Jamaica's first skier - he has 18 JAMAICAN OLYMPC BOBSLED TEAM until January 2014 to qualify. "Rocky On Ice!" HOST CITIES AND COUNTRIES 10,004 PEOPLE The US has held more games than any other country with four - two at Lake Placid, one in Salt Lake City and one in Squaw Valley. paid to watch the first Olympic Winter Games in Chamonix back in 1924. The 2010 games in Vancouver cost Canada $5bn in security and infrastructure projects. The man in charge of the opening and closing ceremonies for Squaw Valley in 1960 was The Winter Olympics have never been held in the Southern Hemispher. Walt Disney VENUES AND THEIR LEGACIES A number of winter games venues are now used as popular tourist resorts - Pragelato Vialattea in Italy offers you the change to 'follow in the champions' footsteps' on former Olympic ski runs. Also in France, the Meribel Antares resort now stands where the women's alpine skiing competitions were held in the 1992 games. In La Plagne in France you can try out the Olympic bobsleigh track from the games in France in 1992. From the resort of Valmorel, you can get to Albertville - the main host of the 1992 The bobsled track in Sarajevo, from the games in 1984, fell victim to the Yugoslav war in 1991, and was used as an artillery post for Serbian guerrillas. games - in an hour. Squaw Valley in the US saw little post-Olympic use of its venues. Many were torn up or built over soon after the games in 1960. The Trampolino Olimpico ski jumping venue in Cortina d'Ampezzo (Italy 1956) featured in the James Bond film "For Your Eyes Only". Bad times Only one national boycott of the winter Olympics has taken place - by Taiwan at Salt Lake City in 1980. The Nagano games in 1998 were disrupted by, ironically, too much snow. Team boycotts have taken place: Austrian and Swiss skiers in 1936 and Canada's Calls for Georgia to boycott the 2014 games in Sochi, Russia due to conflict in 2008, were made by the nation's president. ice-hockey squad in 1972. Controversy hit the 1994 Lillehammer games when US figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was attacked by the former husband of her rival Tonya Harding. Kerrigan recovered and won silver. Harding finished eighth. VS 4 DEATHS during winter games - two lugers and two skiers. All died in practice sessions. A lack of snow at Innsbruck in 1964 necessitated bringing soldiers in to haul snow and blocks of ice down from the XXXX Austrian mountains to create ski slopes and runs for luge and bobsled events. Denver, Colorado won the right to host the 1976 Winter Olympics. In 1972 voters there rejected public funding, and the games were moved to Innsbruck, Austria. Waldweg Innsbruck 2014 - Sochi, Russia Mascots for the games in Sochi are a polar bear, a hare and a leopard, with "the ray of light" and "the snowflake" representing the Paralympic games. Plans are in place to create a Formula 1 grand prix racecourse in Sochi, using much of the infrastructure created for the games. Sochi is the warmest city to host a winter Olympic Games. New events at the 2014 Sochi games include ski half pipe, luge relay and women's ski jumping. 1300 medals will be handed out in Sochi at the winter Olympic and Paralympic games. And finally... Demonstration sports at the winter games have included sled dog racing (Lake Placid 1932), bandy (Oslo 1952) and speed skiing (Albertville 1992). Some of the more unlikely teams to participate in the winter games, given their climates, are Thailand, Brazil and Kenya. The winter Olympics has created some family legacies - Beth and Eric Heiden both won medals at Salt Lake City in 1980, several members of the Fernandez Ochoa have skied Despite being separate countries, East and West Germany competed as a unified team in the 1956, 1960 and 1964 winter games. at the Winter Games and twins Phillip and Steve Mahre won medals in Alpine Ski Racing. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, a number of its former states - including Russia competed under the name "Unified Team" in 1992. 1980 saw the first use of artificial snow at the games - that was in Lake Placid, USA. **** PRODUCED BY Club Med Y vanc