[	{"txt":"History of the Winter Olympics"},
	{"txt":"Winter Olympics timeline"},
	{"txt":""},
	{"txt":""},
	{"txt":"SOURCES: IOC<br>Photos: AP, Getty Images, Newscom<br>Text: Julie Mullins"},
{"years":[
	{"year":"1924", "place":"Chamonix", "caption":"American Charles Jewtraw became the first Winter Games gold medallist by winning the 500m speed skating, the first event of the IOC-supported Winter Sports Week, retrospectively named the first Olympic Winter Games. <br><br>The outstanding individual performer was Finland’s Clas Thunberg (top right), who won five medals, including three golds, in the five speed skating events"},
	{"year":"1928", "place":"St Moritz", "caption":"Aged 15, Norway’s Sonja Henie (right) caused a sensation by winning the women’s figure skating, holding the record as the youngest winner of an individual event for the next 70 years. <br><br>Sweden’s Gillis Grafström (centre) won his third consecutive gold medal in the men’s event, having taken his first gold in 1920 when skating featured in the Summer Olympics"},
	{"year":"1932", "place":"Lake Placid", "caption":"For the first time in Olympic history, speed skating followed the American method of mass starts and all athletes racing together, in contrast to the European system of heats where two participants race each other against the clock. A mass start race will return in Pyeongchang. <br><br>Norway’s Birger Ruud (left) took ski jump gold with a remarkable leap of 69m, going on to retain his title in 1936"},
	{"year":"1936", "place":"Garmisch-Partenkirchen", "caption":"Norwegian Sonja Henie won her third consecutive Olympic gold medal in figure skating, at the Games opened by German Chancellor Adolf Hitler (bottom right). <br><br>Alpine skiing events were included for the first time, although outraged Austrian and Swiss skiers staged a boycott after the IOC ruled that ski instructors could not compete because they were professionals"},
	{"year":"1948", "place":"St Moritz", "caption":"The Olympics returned after a 12-year break caused by World War II. <br><br>Henri Oreiller (below right) became the first Frenchman to win Winter medals, taking gold in both the downhill and the combined skiing events, while American Dick Button (top) became the first skater to successfully land the double axel jump in competition. In 1952 he also performed the first triple jump"},
	{"year":"1952", "place":"Oslo", "caption":"Norway, the birthplace of modern skiing, staged the Games for the first time. The host nation duly collected skiing medals but its standout star was speed skater Hjalmar Andersen (right), who won three golds. <br><br>Computers were first used in figure skating to calculate the judges’ marks, enabling scores to be given immediately"},
	{"year":"1956", "place":"Cortina d’Ampezzo", "caption":"Austria’s Toni Sailer (right) became the first Alpine skier to win three Olympic golds, in the giant slalom, slalom and downhill events. <br><br>The Soviet Union made its debut and immediately topped the medal table. Ljubov Kozyreva (left) won the country’s first Winter Olympic gold, in the women’s 10km cross country skiing"},
	{"year":"1960", "place":"Squaw Valley", "caption":"In his third Games, double Olympic cross-country champion Veikko Hakulinen (above) anchored the Finnish relay team to gold despite starting 20 seconds behind Norway’s team. <br><br>Men’s biathlon made its debut, as did the now ubiquitous “instant replay”, which began after officials asked to review TV coverage to check whether a slalom skier had missed a gate"},
	{"year":"1964", "place":"Innsbruck", "caption":"The bobsleigh track first used artificial ice, greatly reducing its danger. Britain’s Tony Nash and Robin Dixon (left) won gold in the two-man bob after Italy’s Eugenio Monti loaned them a replacement axle bolt. The Italian duo took the bronze, and Monti was awarded the first De Coubertin Medal for sportsmanship. <br><br>France’s Marielle Goitschel (right) took gold in the giant slalom, two days after winning slalom silver behind her older sister Christine"},
	{"year":"1968", "place":"Grenoble", "caption":"These were the first Winter Olympics to be broadcast in colour. The undisputed star was French hero Jean-Claude Killy (right and inset), who swept the men’s Alpine events with three gold medals at his home Games. <br><br>Elsewhere Lyudmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov (left), an elegant married couple from the Soviet Union, successfully defended their pairs figure skating title"},
	{"year":"1972", "place":"Sapporo", "caption":"Japan had competed in the Winter Olympics since 1928, but had never won a gold medal. Local hero Yukio Kasaya (left) changed that when he led from start to finish in the normal hill ski-jump, with Japan also claiming silver and bronze to complete a clean sweep. <br><br>Dutch speed skater Ard Schenk (right) won three golds, becoming so popular in the Netherlands that a flower was named in his honour"},
	{"year":"1976", "place":"Innsbruck", "caption":"Innsbruck hosted its second Games in 12 years after the original host, Denver, withdrew. <br><br>Local hero Franz Klammer’s wild plunge down the downhill course grabbed a gold medal and global headlines (right), while Britain’s John Curry (left) combined natural elegance and stunning jumps to be rewarded with the highest points total in the history of men’s figure skating"},
	{"year":"1980", "place":"Lake Placid", "caption":"American speed skater Eric Heiden (centre) became the first ever Olympian to win five gold medals in individual events at the same Games after winning all five speed skating events from 500m to 10,000m, setting Olympic records in each of them. <br><br>Russian pairs skater Irina Rodnina (left) won her third successive gold medal"},
	{"year":"1984", "place":"Sarajevo", "caption":"British ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean (right) mesmerised the world with their interpretation of Ravel’s Bolero, winning perfect scores from all the judges for artistic impression. <br><br>Finland’s Marja-Liisa Kirvesmiemi-Hämäläinen (left), dominated women’s cross country skiing in her sixth Olympics, winning all three individual events by at least 10 seconds"},
	{"year":"1988", "place":"Calgary", "caption":"The Winter Games was extended to 16 days, with two new Alpine events added and the return of Nordic Combined for the first time since 1948. <br><br>Charismatic East German figure skater Katarina Witt (left), who became a global celebrity after winning gold in Sarajevo, defended her Olympic title"},
	{"year":"1992", "place":"Albertville", "caption":"Freestyle skiing, short-track, and women’s biathlon debuted as official disciplines in the last Winter Olympics to be staged in the same year as the Summer Games. <br><br>Finland’s Toni Nieminen, aged 16 (top right), won the men’s ski jump title to become the youngest male winner of a winter event"},
	{"year":"1994", "place":"Lillehammer", "caption":"The first to be held in a different year from the Summer Olympics, following an IOC vote to ensure the Winter Games was not overshadowed by the larger summer event. <br><br>Freestyle skiing aerials were introduced, speed skating moved indoors for the first time, and Sweden overcame Canada to take gold in a nail-biting ice hockey final (inset)"},
	{"year":"1998", "place":"Nagano", "caption":"Snowboarding made its Olympic debut and curling returned as an official event for the first time since 1924. <br><br>Alpine skier Hermann Maier of Austria took a spectacular fall in the downhill, flying off the slope at 120km/h and remaining air-bound for over 3.5 seconds, but courageously recovered to earn gold medals in both the super-G and giant slalom"},
	{"year":"2002", "place":"Salt Lake City", "caption":"The skeleton, which as tobogganing made its Olympic debut on St Moritz’s famous Cresta Run in 1928, gained a regular place in the schedule. <br><br>Georg Hackl of Germany took silver in the luge, becoming the first person in Olympic history to earn a medal in the same individual event five times in a row"},
	{"year":"2006", "place":"Turin", "caption":"Snowboard cross was included for the first time, providing thrills and spills as competitors raced in groups of four over banked turns, jumps and tricky terrain. <br><br>Chinese athletes established themselves as a force in short-track speed skating, with Wang Meng (right) winning the first of her four gold medals"},
	{"year":"2010", "place":"Vancouver", "caption":"Canada became the most successful host nation in Winter Olympic history, winning 14 gold medals. <br><br>The most eagerly anticipated event was the men’s ice hockey final, where the hosts beat fierce rivals the USA by three goals to two in a nail biting finish in extra time, sparking huge celebrations inside the stadium and around the country"},
	{"year":"2014", "place":"Sochi", "caption":"Dutch speed skaters amassed 23 medals, including four top-three clean sweeps. Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjørndalen and cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen (left) became the most decorated male and female Winter Olympians – Bjørndalen taking his total to 13 medals (8 gold) and Bjørgen with 10 (6 gold). The most expensive Games in Olympic history cost over $50 billion, but were subsequently overshadowed by Russia’s doping scandal"},
	{"year":"2018", "place":"Pyeongchang", "caption":"Breakthrough talks between North Korea and South Korea in early January provided a welcome boost for the PyeongChang Games. <br><br>After months of missile launches and threats of nuclear war by the North, the two Koreas will march together under a united flag and a number of North Korean athletes will compete, marking a significant thaw in the strained relations between the two nations"}
	]
}
]