Where and when were the first Winter Olympics held?

The Winter Olympic Games are a massive quadrennial global international multi-sport event for sports that are performed on snow or ice. Since their start, the Winter Olympics have progressed. Alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, skeleton, short track speed skating, luge, and snowboarding have all been included, and some of them have gained permanent spots on the Olympic program.

Some sports, like curling and bobsleigh, have been phased out and then reinstated, while others have been completely phased out. The Games were held every four years from 1924 to 1936, with the exception of 1940 and 1944, when they were interrupted by World War II. Four years later, they were reintroduced.

The Games have taken place in twelve nations on three different continents. They have been held four times in the US, three times in France, and twice in Austria, Canada, Japan, Italy, Norway, and Switzerland. Furthermore, only Germany, Yugoslavia, Russia, and South Korea have hosted the Winter Olympic Games once each.

First Winter Olympics Games: When and where did they take place?

According to the official Olympic record, the concept for a dedicated Winter Olympic Games was proposed during the seventh session of the International Olympic Congress in June 1921. The suggestion was met with some opposition from Scandinavian countries, who had previously competed in their own competition, known as the Nordic Games, since 1901 and were concerned that adding a Winter Olympics would draw attention away from it.

The 1924 Winter Olympics were the first Winter Olympics, and they were held in Chamonix, France. The Chamonix Games started off by the name of "International Winter Sports Week", an event supported by the IOC but not recognized as an official Olympic event. The tournament, which was well-organized and equipped with modern facilities, was a success, prompting the sports organization to change its charter in 1925 and establish the Winter Games. 

Following that, Chamonix was designated as the site of the inaugural Winter Olympics. The 1924 Games attracted 250 competitors from 16 nations who competed in 16 different events. Figure skating was the only event allowed to women until the 1936 Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, when the Alpine (skiing) combined was added.