The Games: Olympic Past

The Olympics ~ watched and enjoyed by young and old. Not only is the current competition a good topic of conversation, but perhaps there are some stories to be shared about the past Olympics. Before the end of the Olympics, why not share some company with those who enjoy both the Olympics of today and those who have memories of Olympics from the past!

2006 Torino
A half-century after the Cortina d'Ampezzo experience, the Olympics returned to Italy. In celebration, organizers wanted to ensure the Games dazzled on the world stage, and no expense was spared.

2002 Salt Lake City
Scandal occurred well before the torch ever landed in Utah. A few months prior to the Games, a local television reporter discovered that multiple International Olympic Committee members sold their votes during the bid process.

1998 Nagano
A return to Japan for a second time, and, as in Calgary a decade earlier, the weather played havoc with the skiing events. The usual suspects - Germany, Norway, Russia - finished atop the medal standings while Canada finished fifth with its best total ever.

1994 Lillehammer
Two years after the Albertville closed, the event reappeared and returned to Norway. The Games did not suffer from the quick turnaround as they were widely considered to be the most successful Winter Olympics in history.

1992 Albertville
The French closed a chapter in Olympic history as it was the final year the Winter and Summer Games would be hosted in the same year. The change presented a way for the Winter Games to climb out of the shadow of the more high-profile Summer Olympics.

1988 Calgary
Canada got a crack at hosting its first Winter Games, and despite some unusually warm weather, the Alberta city came through with more than its share of breathtaking performances and heartwarming - as well as heartbreaking - stories.

1984 Sarajevo
The Bosnian capital was virtually unknown on the global stage when competition landed in the Balkans for the first time. Organizers took full advantage of the opportunity, constructing state-of-the-art sports facilities in hopes of gaining international exposure for the socialist nation of Yugoslavia.

1980 Lake Placid
American-Soviet relations were as chilly as ever at the start of the 1980s when the Winter Olympics returned to this small New York town nestled in the Adirondacks. The Cold War raged on as the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979 to American disapproval.

1976 Innsbruck
The face of Winter Olympic history would look different if the original plans for the Games came to fruition. Denver initially earned the right to host the event with with a plan to celebrate the state of Colorado's 100th birthday and America's bicentennial.


1972 Sapporo
Scandal and controversy gripped the Games months before competition began. Two debates arose, each surrounding the ever-evolving definition of an amateur athlete. This time the huffing and puffing was about what constitutes an amateur athlete.

1968 Grenoble
A lavish opening ceremony. Star-making performances. The French city was a surprise choice to host the event but it's where the movement truly came of age - an era that saw the first decentralized Olympics, with events taking place throughout the Dauphine region.

1964 Innsbruck
"Simple Games - Back to Reason." This was the motto based on a pledge to stage the Games according to the principles of athleticism and sportsmanship. Despite concerted efforts to return to simplicity and modesty, the IOC introduced a new level of complexity and global attention.

1960 Squaw Valley
An unlikely destination to hold such a spectacle, the ski resort town in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains had only one chairlift, two rope tows and a lodge for 50 guests. But it still manged to beat out highly favoured Innsbruck, Austria.

1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo
The third time proved to be a charm for the Italian region. The northeastern mountain resort had been selected to host the 1944 Winter Games, which were cancelled because of the Second World War. Another bid failed in 1952 when the Games went to Oslo.

1952 Oslo
This was the first Scandinavian country to host the Games. The Norwegians were the powers in winter sports, leading the medal count four of the previous five times, yet the city was denied the Games in 1940 and 1944.

1948 St. Moritz
They were heralded as an emblem of new world peace and good will, but organizers, athletes and fans couldn't escape the after-effects of a bloody global conflict that had caused the cancellation of the Games in 1940 and 1944.

1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Adolf Hitler presided over the opening ceremony, which was held in the twin Bavarian towns three years before the start of the Second World War. The political climate in Germany and the Nazis' odious racial ideology cast a pall over the entire competition.

1932 Lake Placid
While extreme weather hurt the Games, it was the economic climate that did the most damage. The Great Depression, the worst economic collapse in the history of the modern industrial world, provided a less-than-ideal setting for an international sports extravaganza.


1928 St. Moritz
This one the first of two occasions this city would hold the Olympics - the second being in 1948. It marked the ascension of figure skating star Sonja Henie and included German athletes for the first time since the First World War.

1924 Chamonix
These Games were preceded by 30 years of hand-wringing and debate. But the event, held in the picturesque spa town, were a resounding success and paved the way for future Olympics.