Winter Olympic Games

The Winter Olympic Games (French: Jeux olympiques d'hiver), also known as the Olympic Winter Games or simply the Winter Olympics, are a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The Winter Olympics are usually held in February, during the winter season of the Northern Hemisphere. The IOC is the governing body of the Olympic Movement, with the Olympic Charter defining its structure and authority. Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo of Italy hosted in 2026. The next games are scheduled to be held between 1 and 17 February 2030 at the French Alps. The original five Winter Olympic Sports (consisting of nine disciplines) were bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, Nordic skiing (consisting of the disciplines military patrol, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, and ski jumping), and skating (consisting of the disciplines figure skating and speed skating). The Winter Olympic Games have evolved since their inception. Sports and disciplines have been added and some of them, such as alpine skiing, luge, short track speed skating, freestyle skiing, skeleton, and snowboarding, have earned a permanent spot on the Olympic program. Some others, including curling and bobsleigh, have been discontinued and later reintroduced; others have been permanently discontinued, such as military patrol, though the modern Winter Olympic sport of biathlon is descended from it. Still others, such as speed skiing, bandy and skijoring, were demonstration sports but never incorporated as Olympic sports. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held in Chamonix, France. The modern Olympic Games were inspired by the ancient Olympic Games, which were held in Olympia, Greece, from 776 BCE to 394 CE. The Baron Pierre de Coubertin of France founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) 1,500 years later in 1894, leading to the first modern Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece...