The history of sports grows in tandem with the history of human civilization, and analyzing the development of sports at the Olympics can offer insights into both, especially from a modern perspective. In focus today are the Winter Olympics, the early editions of which were held in regions with cooler climates and abundance of mountains and lakes, as two things without which winter sports cannot come to life are ice and snow. 

Chamonix 1924 marked the inaugural Winter Olympics at the French base of Mont Blanc, highest summit in the Alps, and the latest edition is being held in China in the three competition zones of Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou. For everything that happened in the middle and more, have a look at these charts.

A history of sports at Winter Olympics

Beijing 2022

Beijing 2022 is featuring a record 109 events in 15 disciplines and seven sports: skiing, skating, ice hockey, curling, bobsledding, luge and biathlon.

Among them, seven new events have been added to the Games: men's and women's big air freestyle, women's monobob, mixed team competitions in freestyle skiing aerials, ski jumping and snowboard cross, and a mixed relay in short track speed skating.

Cool facts about Winter Olympics

1. The sport discipline of military patrol was included in the Olympics for only once at Chamonix 1924.

2. The tradition of holding the Winter Olympics in the same year as the Summer Olympics lasted from Chamonix 1924 to Albertville 1992.

3. The first Winter Olympics gold medal was awarded to American Charles Jewtraw in the event of men's 500 meters speed skating at Chamonix 1924.

4. The podium made its Olympic debut at Lake Placid 1932 as there was "no set ritual awarding the prizes to the winning athletes at the Games until 1928."

5. Women's speed skating received official recognition in 1931 and added to the program in 1932, even though only as a demonstration sport.

6. St. Moritz 1948 was called the "Games of Renewal" after a 12-year halt caused by World War II.

7. For the first time, computers were used to calculate scores awarded by different judges in figure skating at Oslo 1952.

8. Italian alpine skier Giuliana Chenal-Minuzzo, bronze medalist in the downhill at Oslo 1952, had the honor to become the first female athlete to swear the Olympic Oath at Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956.

9. In bobsleigh, athletes raced on a track that used artificial ice for the first time at Innsbruck 1964.

10. Beijing is the only city that has hosted both the Summer and Winter Olympics. 

(All data sourced from Olympics.com)