100 years of Olympic Winter Games: Legacies of the past, reflections about the future 

Next week marks 100 years since the first Olympic Winter Games took place in Chamonix, France.  

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100 years of Olympic Winter Games: Legacies of the past, reflections about the future 
© IOC/John Huet

From 25 January to 5 February 1924, 258 athletes from 16 national teams gathered to compete in 16 events in nine disciplines: bobsleigh, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, ice hockey, military patrol, Nordic combined, ski jumping and speed skating.

The event was initially an integral part of the Olympic Games Paris 1924, and was known as the “Winter Sports Week of the VIII Olympiad”. In 1926, it was retroactively recognised as the first edition of the Olympic Winter Games.

Chamonix 1924 was a landmark moment in the development of the Olympic Movement, and a springboard for the growth of the French resort and winter sport.

Chamonix 1924

Since 1924, more than half of the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) currently recognised by the IOC have sent athletes to compete at the Olympic Winter Games. Today, the Games attract up to 3,000 athletes, coming together in peaceful competition.

Over the next few days, we will be looking into the legacies created by Chamonix 1924 and the various Olympic Winter Games editions since; tracking their evolution; and thinking about what their future might look like.

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