BEIJING 2022

The Winter Olympics only arrives once in every 4 years, and with the 2022 Beijing Olympics just around the corner, there comes a host of interesting and fun sports to watch. First held in Sweden in 1901, the first international multi-sport winter event was called the Nordic Games – which evolved into the Winter Olympics that we know today. Because of its rich history there are in fact many fun facts about the Winter Olympics. So, with this in mind let’s have a look at some fun facts about the Winter Olympics! 

The Winter Olympics was temporarily suspended after it was held in 1936, and was resumed in 1948 after World War II. 

The oldest Olympic Medallist was Anders Haugen. He competed in 1924 as a ski-jumper, however due to a scoring error, he did not receive his bronze medal until 50 years after.  

The Olympic Motto is ‘Citius, Altius, Fortius' which means ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger' in English. Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the International Olympic Committee, heard a priest say these words many years prior to proposing them as the Olympic Games’ motto in 1894.  

The only country to have won a gold medal at every single Olympic Winter Games is the US.  

Pierre de Coubertin died in 1937 and was buried in Lausanne, except for his heart, which as per his wish was buried in a memorial near the ruins of ancient Olympia.  

Did you know that an Olympic gold medal is funnily enough not made of gold – and it hasn’t been since 1912. It’s actually mostly produced from silver.  

Mikaela Shiffrin, who is a US Alpine skier, brought 35 pairs of skis along with her to the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.  

Olympic hockey pucks are interestingly enough made of vulcanised rubber, and they need to be frozen before every game to reduce friction.  

Heikki Hasu, a 3-time Olympic Gold Medal winner, had retired from Nordic skiing in 1953 at the young age of 27 to be able to work on his farm.  

The 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria faced the issue of a lack of snow – until the Austrian Army had delivered 50,000 cubic yards of it! 

The Winter Olympics is a unique and grand sporting event filled some of the most interesting sports you could hope to find. With the 2022 Beijing Olympics just around the corner, make sure to get your child involved - whether that’s simply through watching the competition, trying out new sports for themselves, and even doing further reading on anything about it which piques their interest. Regardless, we hope you found these fun facts about the Winter Olympics helpful in inspiring interest for sport and competition in your child.  

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