WINTER OLYMPICS

The Winter Olympics Games are obviously winter sports events held every four years . It features ice skating , snowboarding , skiing , ice hockey, etc. Surely , the countries that usually conduct The Winter Olympics Games are those four-season countries , such as Switzerland , Austria , the USA , France , Japan , Italy , Canada , and many more .

• THE PAST
  
  
  Winter olympics was firstly conducted by Chamonix, Paris in 1924 . The Finnish and Norwegian athletes dominated the events at that time.
  
  

  This is the picture of Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony in early years :)
  
  Olympics Flame
  
  
• 
  
• 
  

The first Winter Olympic Games in 1924

Chamonix, France

Alpine skiing during Winter Olympics in early years

Figure Skating during Winter Olympics in eaarly years

Ice Hockey during Winter Olympics

Ski jumping (night view) during Winter Olympics :)



Ski-jumping during Winter Olympics

• THE PRESENT
  
  The most recent Winter Olympics was the one held on 10 February 2006 at the Stadio Olimpico , Turin , Italy . It was also known as XX Olympic Winter Games with "Passion" as the theme , and "Passion lives here" as the motto . There were approximately 35000 spectators from all over the world at that time , and the Games were conducted in English, Italian and also France .
  Germany was the one who won most of the medals ; it has got 11 gold medals , 12 silver medals , and 6 bronze .

The opening ceremony of 2006 Winter Olympics in Italy

Ice skating in Winter Olympics 1928



Skiijumping during Winter Olympics



Ice dancing during Winter Olympics 2006

• THE FUTURE
  
  
  The next Winter Olympics , which is going to be held in 2010 , is to be conducted in Vancouver , Canada , exactly on 12-28 February 2010 .
  
  
  
  
  

  Vancouver, which geographically is a low-altitude, seaport city with a relatively mild oceanic climate , with Alpine - level mountains nearby is said to become the largest city to host the Winter Olympics in history .
  

  
  1. PREPARATION AND DEVELOPMENT
  
  

  BC Government has launched THE CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS PROGRAM since 12 February 2008 , intending to find 25000 volunteers to prepare for the coming Winter Olympics . Tickets for the event have even been available for purchase since October 3 2008 and the one year countdown to the beginning of the games has started from 12 February 2008. The BC government also indicated it would pay $600 million upgrade to the Sea-to-Sky Highway to accomodate the increased traffic between Vancouver and Whistler , although this highway upgrade has been overdue for more than a decade and still will not meet the basic needs of the corridor .
  
  
  
  

  

Above is the photograph showing the Olympic Flag outside the Vancouver City Hall



Below is the mascots for 2010 Winter Olympic Games




2. VENUES

The opening ceremony will be at BC Place Stadium and the competition venues in Greater Vancouver including Pacific Coliseum , Vancouver Olympic Centre , UBC Winter Sports Centre , Richmond Olympic Oval , and Cypres Mountain .

Below is the picture of the countdown clock in Vancouver

feel free to watch the performance of the golden medal winner for ice-skating category in 2006 !