Why Are There Winter Olympics And Summer Olympics?

The Olympics is a multi-sports event of great international significance. The Winter and Summer Olympics are the two categories of the Olympic Games, which are held once in every four years.

The Summer Olympic Games

The Summer Olympics started in the year 1894 with the aim of promoting international peace and understanding via sports competition. The first Olympic Games were conducted in Athens, Greece in 1896 with 245 athletes from 14 countries and women were not permitted to participate in those events. The United States emerged as the champions of the event despite the host state had a large number of athletes. The following Summer Olympics of the year 1900 involved many countries. The event occurred in Paris, France where women participate in croquet, sailing, tennis, and golf. Since then, the Summer Olympic Games have been advancing over time up to date where many events are included, and many countries worldwide are participating in these competitions.

Summer Olympic Games are grouped into five. In the first group, the events are athletics, aquatics, and gymnastics. Basketball, football, cycling, tennis, and volleyball are in the second category. Badminton, boxing, shooting, table tennis, rowing, and weightlifting are the significant events in the third category. Primary activities in the fourth category are equestrian, canoe, handball, fencing, field hockey, taekwondo, sailing, triathlon, and wrestling. The last group includes rugby, pentathlon, and golf.

The Winter Olympic Games

Gustaf Balck planned the 1901 Winter Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. The triumph of the Summer Olympic Games triggered the start of the Winter Olympics and these games were held for the first time in 1924 in Chamonix, France. In 1925, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), a body in charge of the Olympic Games, resolute to host Winter Olympics separately and designed many games for this event. Both the Summer and Winter Games occurred in the same year until the year 1992 when the IOC resorted to conducting the two games at different years. St. Moritz, Switzerland hosted the second time Winter Olympics in the year 1928. The number of games and participants kept on increasing after every four years.

Some of the Winter Olympic sports are grouped into three categories; Alpine and snowboarding events, ice sports, which include skeleton, ice hockey, figure skating and curling in the second category, and Nordic events in the third category.

The Olympic Awards

In every Olympic event, the first position competitors are given gold medals, silver medals for the second position and bronze medals for the third position. More than 17 states have already hosted the Olympic Games.