Winter Olympics Photos

The Olympic Charter describes winter sports as those 'practiced on snow or ice' and the Winter Olympic Games are held every four years, scheduled to alternate with the Summer Olympic Games, falling on even numbered years.

They were first held in Chamonix, France in 1924 but the sports of Figure Skating and Ice Hockey used to be part of the Summer Games before that point.

Many countries have hosted the Winter Olympics, including the United States of America, Canada, Japan, Italy, Norway and Austria.

In its earliest years there were only 16 winter events and the winning athletes came mostly from Finland and Norway, with women only permitted to compete in the Figure Skating competitions. But as the Winter Olympics have developed in the modern era so the Games have progressed and there are more sporting disciplines included and women take part across the board.

Alpine Skiing involves the Downhill, the Slalom, the Giant and Super Giant Slaloms, and the Alpine Combined.

Military Patrol was the precursor to what is now known as the Biathlon and involves skiing combined with shooting.

The Bobsled events for four-man and two-man teams as well as for women are high adrenaline and high speed sports and have been made internationally famous by the comedy film 'Cool Runnings' about the first four-man team from Jamaica. The Luge and Skeleton are also high speed winter disciplines and may at first sight seem to many to be like sliding down an icy chute on a tin tray, the Luge being done on the back and the Skeleton on the stomach.

Cross Country Skiing has certainly been well established as a Winter Games essential since 1924 along with the Nordic Combined.

Figure Skating for singles and pairs and the beautifully crafted Ice Dancing are very popular events; the names of Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean being held up as amongst the finest practitioners with their famous free dance to Ravel's Bolero at the Games held in Sarajevo in 1984.

Other Winter Games include the Ski Jump, Curling, Snowboarding, Speed Skating, Ice Hockey, and Freestyle Skiing which includes Moguls, Aerials and Skicross.

The Winter Olympics have not been without their problems, and as with other sports there have been issues with drug testing, boycotts and political ideologies. Nevertheless the Winter Games continue to provide incredible spectacle, richly rewarding endeavour and memorable moments of astounding passion on snow and ice.