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WorldNet Service Installation Disk - Cybercathlon Games and Interactive Tour of Olympic Museum (1996).ISO
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00838_Field_wt15.txt.txt
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1996-06-03
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The father of the modern Olympics,
Pierre de Coubertin, wasn't
particularly interested in holding
winter games, and had to be
convinced. It took years. The only
part of the world where snow
sports were played competitively at
the beginning of the 20th century
was Scandinavia. Every four
years, Nordic games were held
among the Scandinavian countries
which were similar to the Olympics,
and featured cross-country skiing
events, ski jumping, and a variation
of ice hockey called bandy.
Alpine - downhill - ski racing wasn't
even invented until early in the
20th century, and then, by an
English Methodist missionary
named Henry Lunn. The early
summer Olympics included the
winter sports figure skating and ice
hockey, but the first winter games
were not held until 1924, in
Chamonix, France. And these
games were not officially
recognized as the first Winter
Olympics until 1926, when their
status was accorded retroactively.
Before that, the event was known
as Chamonix International Sports
Week.
From those first games, which
included only 294 competitors from
16 countries, and just 13 women, competing in 14 events, the Winter
Olympics has grown to
encompass, as of 1994, 57 events,
64 countries, and 2,289 athletes.
For an event to be included in the
games, it must be played in at least
25 countries over two continents.
While the Scandinavians dominated
the early games, with their
established expertise in Nordic -
cross country - skiing, ski jumping
and ice skating, the balance of
power shifted with the introduction
of downhill skiing in 1936, and then
the emergence of the powerful
Soviets and Eastern European
nations, from the 1950s onward.
The Americans and Canadians
have also been strong in skating
and downhill events through the
years.
1994 saw the end of the cycle of
staging both Winter and Summer
Olympics in the same year. In
order to accommodate the change,
the Winter Games were held in
1992 and 1994, with the next
games scheduled for 1998, while
the Summer Games will be held in
1996 and every four years
thereafter. That way, every two
years there will be an Olympics.