1. Winter Olympics

　　Although figure skating was an event at the Summer Games of 1908 and 1920, and ice hockey was played in 1920, the IOC was hesitant to inaugurate a series of separate Winter Games because climatic conditions dictated that the possible locations for winter sports competition were geographically limited. When Sweden and Norway first proposed Winter Games in 1911, the United States opposed the games on these grounds. Ironically, the Scandinavians changed their minds at the 1921 meeting of the IOC, arguing that Winter Games, unlike Summer Games, could not unite athletes from every country. They were outvoted, however, and the IOC established Winter Games.
　　The Winter Olympic Games were first held as a separate competition in 1924 at Chamonix, France. The 1924 Winter Games included 14 events in five different sports. From that time until 1992, they took place the same year as the Summer Games. However, beginning with the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, the Winter Games were rescheduled to occur in the middle of the Olympic cycle, alternating on even-numbered years with the Summer Games.