Winter ഒള്യ്മ്പിച്സ് ഹിസ്റ്ററി

Early years
The Winter Olympic Games are a winter multi-sport event held every four years. They feature winter sports held on snow or ice, such as Alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, figure skating, bobsledding and ice hockey. Cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping, and speed skating have been competed at every Winter Olympics since 1924. Other athletic events have been added as the Games have progressed. Some of these events, such as luge, short track speed skating, and freestyle skiing have earned a permanent spot on the Olympic programme. Others, like speed skiing, bandy, and skijöring have been demonstration sports but never incorporated officially as an Olympic sport.

Fewer countries participate in the Winter Olympics than the Summer Olympics. The first Winter Olympics were held in Chamonix, France in 1924. Prior to this, figure skating and ice hockey had been events at the Summer Olympics. The Games were held every four years from 1924 until 1940 when they were interrupted by World War II. The Winter and Summer Games resumed in 1948 and were celebrated on the same year until 1992. At that time the Winter Games split from the Summer Games, and were begun to be celebrated on alternating even years. The first Winter Olympic Games to be held on this new schedule was in 1994 in Lillehammer, Norway.

The Winter Games have undergone significant changes since their inception. The rise of television as a global medium for communication has greatly enhanced the profile of the Games. It has also created an income stream in the form of the sale of broadcast rights and advertising, which has become very lucrative. This has allowed outside interests, such as television companies and corporate sponsors, to influence various aspects of the Games. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has had to address several internal scandals, and the use of performance enhancing drugs by Winter Olympic athletes. The Winter Games have also been used by countries to demonstrate the claimed superiority of their political systems.

Many countries have hosted the Winter Olympics multiple times. The United States has hosted the Games four times, more than any other country. France has been host three times. Austria, Canada, Italy, Japan, Norway, and Switzerland have hosted the Games twice. The next Games will be hosted by Sochi, Russia in 2014. This will be the first time that Russia hosts the Winter Olympic Games.

The first international multi-sport event specifically for winter sports were the Nordic Games, held in 1901 in Sweden. The Nordic Games were organized by General Viktor Gustaf Balck.[1] They were held again in 1903, again in 1905, and then every four years there after until 1926.[1] Balck was a charter member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and a close personal friend of Olympic Games founder Pierre de Coubertin. He attempted to have winter sports, specifically figure skating, added to the Olympic programme.[1] Balck was unsuccessful until the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, which featured four figure skating events.[2] Ulrich Salchow (10 time World champion) and Madge Syers won the individual titles.[3]

Three years later, Italian count Eugenio Brunetta d'Usseaux proposed that the IOC stage a week with winter sports as part of the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm. The organizers opposed this idea, their reasoning was two-fold: they desired to protect the integrity of the Nordic Games; and they were concerned about a lack of facilities that could accommodate winter sports.[4][5] The idea was resurrected for the 1916 Games, which were to be held in Berlin. A winter sports week with speed skating, figure skating, ice hockey and Nordic skiing was planned, but the 1916 Olympics were cancelled after the outbreak of World War I.[4]

The first Olympics after the war, the 1920 Games in Antwerp featured figure skating with the addition of ice hockey.[4] At the IOC Congress held the following year, it was decided that the organizers of the 1924 Summer Olympics, France, would also host a separate "International Winter Sports Week", under the patronage of the IOC. This "week" (it actually lasted 11 days) of events in Chamonix proved to be a great success. More than 200 athletes from 16 nations, competed in 16 events.[6] Fewer than 15 of the athletes were women and they were only allowed to compete in figure skating events.[4] Finnish and Norwegian athletes dominated the events.[7] In 1925 the IOC decided to create a separate Olympic Winter Games,[4] and the 1924 Games in Chamonix were retroactively designated as the first Winter Olympics.[4][8]
Statue of Sonja Henie in Oslo

St. Moritz was appointed by the IOC to host the second Olympic Winter Games in 1928.[9] Fluctuating weather conditions made these Olympics memorable. The opening ceremonies were held in a blizzard.[10] In contrast, warm weather conditions plagued the Olympics for the remainder of the Games. Due to the weather the 10,000 metre (6.2 miles) speed skating event had to be abandoned and officially cancelled with no winner.[11] The 50 km (31 miles) cross-country event was officially contested but ended with a temperature of 25 °C (77 °F), which caused significant problems with snow and waxing conditions.[11] The weather was not the only note-worthy aspect of the 1928 Games; Sonja Henie of Norway created a sensation when she won the figure skating competition at the age of 15. She became the youngest Olympic champion in history, a distinction she would hold for 74 years.[12]

The next Winter Olympics was the first to be hosted outside of Europe. Fewer athletes participated than in 1928, as the journey to Lake Placid, United Sates, was a long and expensive one for most competitors, and there was little money for sports in the midst of the Great Depression. These Games were also marred by warm weather. Virtually no snow fell for two months preceding the Games. It was not until mid-January that there was enough snow to hold all the events.[13] Sonja Henie defended her Olympic title.[14] Eddie Eagan, who had been an Olympic champion in boxing in 1920, won the gold in the men's bobsled event to become the first, and so far only, Olympian to have won gold medals in both the Summer and Winter Olympics.[14]

The Bavarian towns of Garmisch and Partenkirchen joined to organize the 1936 edition of the Winter Games, held from February 6–16.[15] 1936 marked the last year that the Summer and Winter Olympics were held in the same country. Alpine skiing made its Olympic debut in Germany, but skiing teachers were barred from entering because they were considered to be professionals.[16] This decision caused the Swiss and Austrian skiers to refuse to compete in the Olympics.[17]
World War II

The Second World War interrupted the celebration of the Winter Olympics. The 1940 Winter Olympics had originally been awarded to Sapporo, Japan, but was rescinded in 1938, because of the Japanese invasion of China in the Sino-Japanese War. Subsequently, St. Moritz, Switzerland, was chosen by the IOC to host the Games, but three months later the IOC withdrew St. Moritz from the Games, because of quarrels with the Swiss organizing team. Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the hosts of the previous Olympics, stepped in to host the Winter Games again, but both Summer and Winter Olympics were cancelled in their entirety in November 1939 following Germany's invasion of Poland.[18] The 1944 Winter Olympics, scheduled to take place in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, were cancelled in the Summer of 1941, due to the continuing World War.[19]
1948 to 1960
View down into Cortina from Monte Faloria, site of the Giant Slalom events at the 1956 Winter Olympics[20]

The IOC selected the Swiss town of St. Moritz to host the first post-war Games in 1948. St. Moritz was untouched by World War II because of Switzerland's neutrality. Since most of the venues were already constructed for the 1928 Games it was a logical choice to become the first city to host a Winter Olympics twice.[21] Twenty-eight countries competed in Switzerland. Athletes from Germany and Japan were not invited.[22] The Games were marred by controversy, and theft. Two hockey teams from the United States arrived. Both teams claimed to be the legitimate U.S. Olympic hockey representative. The Olympic flag presented at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, was stolen. Its replacement was also stolen. The Games were declared a success, due mainly to the fact that they were the most competitive in history. Ten countries won gold medals at these Games, more than any Games to that point.[23]

The city of Oslo, Norway, was selected to host the 1952 Winter Olympics. The Olympic Flame was lit in the fireplace of the home of skiing pioneer Sondre Nordheim.[24] The torch relay was conducted by 94 participants and held entirely on skis.[24][25] Bandy, a popular sport in the Nordic countries, was held as a demonstration sport though only Norway, Sweden, and Finland fielded teams.[25]

After not being able to host the Games in 1944 due to the War, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, was selected to organize the 1956 Winter Olympics. At the opening ceremonies the final torch bearer, Guido Caroli, entered the Olympic Stadium on ice skates. As he skated around the stadium rink his skate caught on a cable and he fell, nearly extinguishing the flame. He was able to recover and lit the cauldron.[26] These were the first Winter Games to be televised,[27] though no television rights would be sold until the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.[28] The Cortina Games were used as an experiment on the feasibility of televising sporting events on such a large scale.[28] These Games marked the debut of the Soviet Union at the Winter Olympics. The Soviet team won more medals than any other nation.[29] The IOC awarded the 1960 Olympics to Squaw Valley, United States. Since the village was underdeveloped,[30] there was a rush to construct roads, hotels, restaurants, and bridges, as well as the ice arena, the speed skating track, ski lifts, and the ski jump hill.[31] The opening and closing ceremonies were produced by Walt Disney.[32] These Games were the first to have a dedicated athlete's village, and the first to use a computer (courtesy of IBM) to tabulate results.[32] The bobsled events were absent for the first and only time because the organizing committee found it too expensive. Women first took part in speed skating at these Games.[32]
1964 to 1980

The Tyrolean city of Innsbruck was the host in 1964. Despite being a traditional winter sports resort, warm weather caused a lack of snow during the Games and the Austrian army was called in to bring snow and ice to the sport venues.[32] Soviet speed skating star Lidia Skoblikova made history by sweeping all four speed skating events. Her career total of six gold medals set a record for the most medals by a Winter Olympics athlete.[32] Luge was first contested in these Olympics, although the sport received bad publicity when a competitor was killed in a pre-Olympic training run.[33][34]

Held in the French town of Grenoble, the 1968 Winter Olympics was the first Olympic Games to be broadcast in color.[35] Frenchman Jean-Claude Killy became only the second person to sweep all the men's alpine skiing events.[36] The effects of television began to show at the Grenoble Games. The organizing committee sold the television rights for $2 million, a significant increase over the price of the broadcast rights for the Innsbruck Games, which totaled $936,667.[37] Venues were spread over long distances requiring three athletes' villages at these Games. The organizers claimed this was required to accommodate technological advances. Critics disputed this, alleging the layout was necessary to provide the best possible venues for television broadcasts at the expense of the athletes.[37]

The 1972 Winter Games, held in Sapporo, Japan, were the first to be hosted outside North America or Europe. The issue of professionalism became very contentious during these Games. Three days before the Olympics, IOC president Avery Brundage threatened to bar a large number of alpine skiers from competing because they participated in a ski camp at Mammoth Mountain in the United States. Brundage reasoned that the skiers had financially benefited from their status as athletes and were therefore no longer amateurs.[38] Eventually, only Austrian Karl Schranz, who earned more than all the other skiers, was not allowed to compete.[39] Canada did not send teams to the 1972 or 1976 ice hockey tournaments in protest of their inability to use players from professional leagues.[40] Francisco Ochoa became the only Spaniard to ever win a Winter Olympic gold medal, when he triumphed in the slalom.[41]
The Herb Brooks Arena, site of the "Miracle on Ice", photo taken ca. 2007

Originally, the 1976 Winter Games had been awarded to Denver, United States, but in 1972 the voters of Colorado expressed unwillingness to host the Games through a state referendum.[42] Innsbruck, which still had maintained the infrastructure from the 1964 Games, was chosen in 1973 to replace Denver.[43] Two Olympic flames were lit because it was the second time the Austrian town had hosted the Games.[43] The 1976 Games also featured the first combination bobsled and luge track in neighbouring Igls.[41] The Soviet Union won its fourth straight ice hockey gold medal at these Games.[43]

The Olympic Winter Games returned to Lake Placid, which had hosted the 1932 Games. The threat of a boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics clouded these Olympics, due to the fact that much of the debate regarding this eventuality took place during the Winter Games.[44] American Speed skater Eric Heiden set either an Olympic or world record winning each of the five events he competed in.[45] Hanni Wenzel won both the Slalom and Giant Slalom. Her country, Liechtenstein, became the smallest nation to produce an Olympic gold medallist.[14] In the "Miracle on Ice", the American hockey team beat the favoured Soviets and went on to win the gold medal.[46]
1984 to 1998

The cities of Sapporo, Japan, and Gothenburg, Sweden, were front-runners to host the 1984 Winter Olympics. It was therefore a surprise when Sarajevo, Yugoslavia was chosen to host the Games.[47] The Games were well-organized and displayed no indication of the war that would soon engulf the country.[48] Yugoslavia also won its first Olympic medal when alpine skier Jure Franko won a silver medal in the giant slalom.[48] Another sporting highlight was the free dance performance of British ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean. Their performance to Ravel's Bolero earned the pair unanimous perfect scores in artistic impression, and the gold medal.[48] The Republic of China boycotted the 1980 Olympics due to a conflict with China over the use of the name "Republic of China". They returned to the 1984 Games after an agreement was reached that the athletes would compete under the new name "Chinese Taipei", and use a special flag and national anthem.[49]

In 1988 the Canadian city of Calgary, hosted the first Winter Olympics to span 16 days.[50] New events were added in ski jumping and speed skating, while future Olympic sports curling, short track speed skating and freestyle skiing made their appearance as demonstration sports. For the first time, the speed skating events were held indoors, on the Olympic Oval. Dutch skater Yvonne van Gennip won three gold medals, and set two work records, in speed skating, beating the skaters from the favoured East German team in every race.[51] Her total was equalled by Finnish ski jumper Matti Nykänen, who won all the events in his sport.[50] Alberto Tomba, an Italian skier made his Olympic debut at these Games winning both the Giant Slalom and Slalom.[52] East German Christa Rothenburger won the women's 1000 metre speed skating event. Seven months later, she would earn a silver in track cycling at the Summer Games in Seoul.[50] She became the first and only athlete to win medals in both a Summer and Winter Olympics in the same year.[50]

The 1992 Games were the last to be held in the same year as the Summer Games.[53] They were hosted in the French Savoie region. The town of Albertville was the host city though only 18 events were competed in the city. The rest of the events were spread out over the Savoie.[53] Political changes of the time were reflected in the Olympic teams appearing in France. This was the first Games to be held after the fall of Communism and the dismantling of the Berlin Wall.[54] Germany competed as a single nation for the first time since the 1964 Games, and former Yugoslavian republics Croatia and Slovenia made their debut.[54] Most of former Soviet republics still competed as a single team known as the Unified Team, but the Baltic States made independent appearances for the first time since before World War II.[54] At 16 years old, Finnish ski jumper Toni Nieminen made history by becoming the youngest male Winter Olympic champion.[55] New Zealand skier Annelise Coberger became the first Winter Olympic medallist from the southern hemisphere when she won a silver medal in the women's slalom.[55]

In 1986, the IOC voted to separate the Summer and Winter Games and place them in alternating even-numbered years starting in 1994. The Lillehammer Games were the first Winter Olympics to be held without the Summer Games in the same year.[56] After the division of Czechoslovakia in 1993, the Czech Republic and Slovakia made their Olympic debut in Lillehammer, Norway.[57][58] The women's figure skating competition garnered significant media attention. American skater Nancy Kerrigan had been injured on January 6 in an assault planned by the ex-husband of opponent Tonya Harding.[59] Both skaters competed in the Games, but neither of them won the gold medal, which went to Oksana Baiul, who won Ukraine's first Olympic title.[60][61]

The 1998 Winter Olympics was the first Games to host more than 2,000 athletes.[62] The Games were held in the Japanese city of Nagano. The men's ice hockey tournament was open to all professionals for the first time. Canada and the United States, with their many NHL players, were favoured for the gold .[62] However, neither nation won any medals, as the Czech Republic prevailed.[62] Women's ice hockey made its debut at these Games, with the United States winning the gold medal.[63] Bjørn Dæhlie of Norway won three gold medals in Nordic skiing. He became the most decorated Winter Olympic athlete with eight gold medals and twelve medals overall.[62] Austrian Hermann Maier survived a crash during the downhill competition and returned to win gold in the Super-G and the Giant Slalom[62] A wave of new world records were set in speed skating due to the use of the clap skate.[64]
2002 to present
Olympic flame during the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City

The 19th Olympic Winter Games were held in Salt Lake City, United States. German Georg Hackl won a silver in the singles luge, becoming the first athlete in Olympic history to medal in the same individual event in five consecutive Olympics.[65] Canada achieved an unprecedented double by winning both the men's and women's Ice Hockey gold medals.[65] Canada became embroiled with Russia in a controversy that involved the judging of the pairs figure skating competition. The Russian pair of Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze competed against the Canadian pair of Jamie Salé and David Pelletier for the gold medal. The Canadians appeared to have skated well enough to win the competition, yet the Russians were awarded the gold. The judging broke along Cold War lines with the exception of the French judge, Marie-Reine Le Gougne, who awarded the gold to the Russians. An investigation revealed that she had been pressured to give the gold to the Russian pair regardless of how they skated; in return the Russian judge would look favourably on the French entrants in the ice dancing competition.[66] The IOC decided to award both pairs the gold medal in a second medal ceremony held later in the Games.[67] Australian Steven Bradbury became the first gold medallist from the Southern Hemisphere when he won the 1,000 metre short-track speed skating event.[68]

The Italian city of Turin hosted the 2006 Winter Olympics. It was the second time that Italy held the Winter Olympic Games. South Korean athletes dominated the short-track speed skating events at these Games. Sun-Yu Jin won three gold medals while her teammate Hyun-Soo Ahn won three gold medals and a bronze.[69] In the women's Cross-Country team pursuit Canadian Sara Renner broke one of her poles. When he saw her dilemma, Norwegian coach Bjørnar Håkensmoen decided to lend her a pole. In so doing she was able to help her team win a silver medal in the event. Norway finished fourth.[69][70] Duff Gibson of Canada became the oldest athlete to win a Winter Olympic gold medal in an individual event. He won the skeleton event at 39 years of age.[71]
Future

In 2003 the IOC awarded the 2010 Winter Olympics to Vancouver, thus allowing Canada to host its second Winter Olympics. With a population of more than 2.5 million people, Vancouver will be the largest metropolitan area to ever host a Winter Olympic Games.[72] Vancouver is a low-altitude, seaport city with a relatively mild oceanic climate. Most of the venues will be located in the Vancouver metropolitan area, with the exception of the alpine, Nordic, and sliding events, which will be held in Whistler.[73]

The decision for the location of the 2014 Winter Olympics was made on 4 July 2007. Sochi, Russia, was elected as the host city over the other two finalists: Salzburg, Austria, and Pyeongchang, South Korea. Sochi will be the first city with a subtropical climate to host the Winter Games.[74] The Olympic Village and Olympic Stadium will be located on the Black Sea coast. All of the mountain venues will be 50 kilometres (30 mi) away in the alpine region known as Krasnaya Polyana.[74]
Commercialization

As president of the IOC from 1952 to 1972, Avery Brundage rejected all attempts to link the Olympics with commercial interests. He felt that the Olympic movement should be completely separate from financial influence.[75] The 1960 Winter Olympics marked the beginning of corporate sponsorship of the Games. Brundage saw this as an unwelcome development.[75] He resisted any efforts to commercialize the Games, but as the decade of the 1960s continued the revenue generated by corporate sponsorship swelled.[76] By the Grenoble Games, Brundage had become so concerned about the direction of the Winter Olympic Games towards commercialization that if they could not be corrected, then he felt the Winter Olympics should be abolished.[77] Brundage's resistance to this revenue stream meant the IOC was slow to seek a share of the financial windfall that was coming to host cities, and also slow to control how sponsorship deals would be structured.[75] When Brundage retired, the IOC had $2 million in assets, eight years later the IOC coffers had swelled to $45 million.[75] This was primarily due to a shift in ideology among IOC members toward expansion of the Games through corporate sponsorship and the sale of television rights.[75] Brundage's concerns did prove to be prophetic to a degree. The power and influence of the television lobby has expanded as the cost of the broadcast rights for each successive Games has increased. At the 1998 Nagano Games, CBS paid $375 million, whereas the 2006 Turin Games cost NBC $613 million to broadcast.[78] The more television companies have paid the greater their persuasive power with the IOC has been. For example, the television lobby has influenced the Olympic programme by dictating when event finals were held so that they would appear in prime time for television audiences.[79]

In 1986, the IOC decided to stagger the Summer and Winter Games on separate years. Instead of holding both Games in the same calendar year, it was decided to alternate them every two years. Both Games would still be held on four-year cycles. The rationale given by the IOC for this change was in order to give more prominence to the Winter Olympic Games.[80] It was decided that 1992 would be the last year to have both a Winter and Summer Olympic Games.[56]

There were two groups pushing for this change. One was the television lobby, who had applied pressure to reschedule the Games due to the difficulty in raising advertising revenue for two Games in the same year.[80] Television studios would now be able to emphasize story-lines and generate interest for each separate Games, thereby maximizing viewership and consequently profit.[81] The second was the IOC's desire to gain more control over the revenue generated by the Games. The financial success of the 1984 Summer Olympics, which created a surplus of $227 million, exposed the importance of maximizing television rights and corporate sponsorships. The IOC also realized that under the current structure they had little access to the corporate sponsorship funds raised by individual host cities. They determined that by staggering the Games, corporations would be more likely to sponsor individual Olympic Games thereby maximizing revenue potential. The IOC also sought to directly organize sponsorship contracts so that they had more control over the Olympic "brand".[82] The first Winter Olympics to be hosted in this new format was the 1994 Games in Lillehammer.[53]
Controversy

The Winter Olympics have not been immune to improprieties. Two of the more recent controversies occurred around the 2002 Winter Olympics, the second of which being the well-publicized figure skating scandal. However, after Salt Lake City had been awarded the right to host the 2002 Games it was also discovered that the organizers had engaged in an elaborate scheme to bribe IOC officials in order to win favour and ultimately the bid to host the Games. Gifts and other financial considerations were given to IOC officials. These gifts included medical treatment for relatives, a college scholarship for one member's son, and a land deal in Utah. Even IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch received two rifles valued at $2,000. Samaranch defended the gift as inconsequential since as president he was a non-voting member.[83] He also indicated that the rifles would go on display at the Olympic museum.[84] The subsequent investigation resulted in the expulsion of ten members of the IOC and the sanctioning of another ten.[85] It also uncovered improprieties in the bids for every Games (both summer and winter) since 1988.[86] It was discovered, for example, that the gifts received by IOC members from the Japanese Organizing Committee in exchange for their support of the bid for the 1998 Winter Olympics were described as "astronomical".[87] Although nothing strictly illegal had been done, the fear was that corporate sponsors would lose faith in the integrity of the IOC, and that the Olympic brand would be tarnished to such an extent that advertisers would begin to pull their support.[88] Stricter rules were adopted for future bids and ceilings were put into place as to how much IOC members could accept from bid cities. Additionally new term and age limits were established for IOC membership, and fifteen former Olympic athletes were added to the committee.[89][90]
Steroids

In 1967 the IOC began enacting drug testing protocols. They started randomly testing athletes at the 1968 Winter Olympics.[91] The first Winter Games athlete to test positive for a banned substance was Alois Schloder, a West German hockey player who had ephedrine in his system. He was disqualified from the rest of the tournament but his team was still allowed to compete.[92][93] During the 1970s, testing out of competition was escalated and found to be a useful deterrent to athletes.[94] The problem with testing during this time was a lack of standardization of test procedures, which undermined the credibility of the test process. It was not until the late 1980s that international sporting federations, of which the IOC was a member, began to coordinate efforts to standardize the drug testing protocols.[95] The IOC decided to take a leadership role in the fight against steroids when they established an independent World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in November 1999.[96][97] The 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, became notable for a scandal involving the emerging trend of blood doping, which is the use of blood transfusions or synthetic hormones like Erythropoietin (EPO), to improve oxygen flow in order to reduce fatigue.[98] The Italian police conducted a raid during the Games on the Austrian cross-country ski team's residence. They seized blood doping specimens and equipment.[98][99] This event followed the pre-Olympics suspension of 12 cross-country skiers who tested positive for unusually high levels of hemoglobin, which is evidence of blood doping.[98] This particular method of cheating has been used by cross-country athletes before. At the 2002 Games three skiers were stripped of their medals after they tested positive for blood doping.[98]
Politics
Cold War

The Winter Olympics have been an ideological front in the Cold War since the Soviet Union first participated at the 1956 Winter Games. It did not take long for the Cold War combatants to discover what a powerful propaganda tool the Olympic Games could be. Soviet and American politicians used the Olympics, and other international sporting events, as an opportunity to prove the advantages of their respective political systems.[100] The successful Soviet athlete was feted and honoured. Irina Rodnina, three-time Olympic gold medallist in figure skating, was awarded the Order of Lenin after her victory at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck.[101] With the award would come monetary compensation anywhere from $4,000–$8,000 depending on the prestige of the sport. A world record was worth $1,500.[102] The United States responded to the propaganda pressure of the Soviet Union. In 1978, the U.S. Congress passed legislation completely reorganizing the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). This sort of political intrusion in a sports federation was unheard of in a democratic country. It was a direct response to the increasing international profile that television gave to the Olympic Games.[103] The USOC also pays its athletes for Olympic medals won: $25,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze. Multiple medals garner multiple amounts of money.[104]

The Cold War also created tensions among countries allied to the two super powers. A particularly thorny issue for the IOC to navigate was the question of how to recognize both East and West Germany. Germany was not allowed to compete at the 1948 Winter Olympics.[105] In 1950, the IOC recognized the West German Olympic Committee.[106] It was a West German team who represented Germany at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo. The East Germans were invited to cooperate as a unified team in 1952 but they declined this offer.[107] In 1955 the Soviet Union recognized East Germany as a sovereign state, thereby giving more credibility to East Germany's campaign to become an independent participant at the Olympics. The IOC agreed to provisionally accept the East German National Olympic Committee with the condition that they compete as a unified team with the West Germans. This was done because the West Germans had adopted the Hallstein Doctrine, which forbade West Germany from entering into diplomatic relations with any country that recognized East Germany.[108] The situation became tenuous when the Berlin Wall was constructed in 1962. Many western countries, including France and the United States, refused visas to East German athletes competing in world championships in their countries.[109] The uneasy compromise of a unified team held until the Grenoble Games of 1968 when the IOC officially split both teams and threatened to reject the host city bids of any country that refused entry visas to East German athletes.[110]
Boycott

While their Summer counterpart has experienced several boycotts, the Winter Games have had only one national team boycott. Taiwan decided to boycott the 1980 Winter Olympics held in Lake Placid. The reason for the boycott was due to the fact that the IOC had agreed to allow China to compete in the Olympics for the first time since 1952. They were allowed to compete as the People's Republic of China and to use the Chinese flag and anthem. Until 1980, the island of Taiwan had been competing under the name Republic of China and had been using the Chinese flag and anthem.[111] As part of their decision, the IOC demanded that Taiwan cease to call itself the "Republic of China".[112] Instead the IOC renamed it Chinese Taipei and forced it to adopt a different flag and national anthem. The IOC initially attempted to have the countries compete together, but this proved to be unacceptable.[113] Taiwan would not concede to the IOC's demand that it be renamed and use different national symbols. Despite numerous appeals and court hearings the IOC's decision stood. When the Taiwanese athletes arrived at the Olympic village with their Republic of China identification cards they were not admitted. They subsequently left the Olympics in protest just before the opening ceremonies.[111]

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