由于花样滑冰运动在英国的盛行，1908年伦敦奥运会首次将其列入比赛项目。1920年安特卫普奥运会除花样滑冰外，还增加了冰球赛，这两个项目的比赛吸引了成千上万的冰上运动爱好者，并促使单独举办冬奥会的问题被提上了1921年国际业余田径联合会会议议程。1922年国际奥委会巴黎会议上，决定在1924年夏季奥运会前举办这类比赛，但避开了“奥运会”字眼，称为“第八届奥林匹亚德体育周”。第八届奥运会东道主是法国，因此，国际奥委会也将这个体育周委托法国承办，会址定在夏蒙尼。


Because of its popularity in England, figure skating was on the program for the 1908 Olympic Games in London. When Antwerp, Belgium, hosted the 1920 Olympics after World War II, there was competition in both ice hockey and figure skating.

Those sports could, of course, be conducted in rinks during the Summer Games. But other winter sports that were becoming popular in Northern Europe and the Alpine regions, such as skiing and bobsledding, obviously had to stay outdoors. After 1920, national governing bodies for such sports in several countries began talking about the possibility of a separate Winter Olympics.

Prompted by a growing group of snow-sport enthusiasts, the first Olympic Winter Games-initially called International Sports Week-were held at a small Alpine resort in Chamonix , France , in 1924. Figure skating, which first debuted at the Olympic Games in 1908 in London , can be performed on an indoor rink during summer, but other winter sports, such as bobsledding and skiing, required outdoor venues. The 1924 event attracted more than 250 athletes from 16 countries, spurring the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to agree to stage Olympic Winter Games separately from summer competitions.

In 2006, the Olympic Winter Games included curling, bobsled, figure skating, ice hockey, luge, skeleton, speedskating, skiing and snowboarding. 2,500 world-class athletes-a word derived from the Greek word for "prize-seekers" competed amid snow and ice in front of an estimated 1.5 million spectators. It was the second time Italy hosted the Olympic Winter Games, as it hosted the VII Olympic Winter Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo in 1956, and the third time overall, as Italy also staged the Games of the XVII Olympiad in Rome in 1960. Most recently, the 2002 Olympic Winter Games were held in Salt Lake City , Utah .

(南开大学通讯员王乐迪 孙伟投稿 中国日报网站  王星编辑）  


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