"He spent the best part of two decades lobbying, politicking and organising before he finally got the first summer Games up and running in Athens in 1896. Its winter sibling though, well, the great inferiority of these snow sports de Coubertin once wrote, is that they are completely useless, with no useful application whatsoever. He allowed ice skating and ice hockey, the two stadium sports, to be part of the roster for the early summer Games,"
"The 100th anniversary fell midway between the last Winter Games in Beijing and this one in Milan-Cortina. It's an interesting event to look back on. It was described at the time as a 10-day winter sports week, an appendage de Coubertin called it to that year's summer Games in Paris. There were 16 countries competing in five sports, with four more, including military patrol, included as demonstration events."
"A century later, this Winter Olympics, like every Winter Olympics before it, will be the largest yet 3,500 athletes, 93 nations, 19 days of competition, 16 different events, and everywhere an irrepressible sense that, like a party thrown by a teenager while their parents are away, this has all got a little out of control. All of a sudden Mariah Carey has turned up, ski jumpers are injecting acid into their penises,"
Pierre de Coubertin opposed a separate Winter Olympics and allowed only ice skating and ice hockey in early summer Games. A standalone winter event occurred in 1924 at Chamonix, described then as a 10-day winter sports week with 16 countries competing and several demonstration events. The International Olympic Committee later designated that gathering as the first Winter Olympic Games. One hundred years on, the Winter Olympics have expanded to thousands of athletes from dozens of nations over many days. Hosts face logistical strains, temporary venues and high-profile controversies that underscore organizational and reputational challenges.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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