1972 Winter Olympics |Host city||Sapporo, Japan| |Athletes
participating||1006 (801 men, 205 women)| |Events||35 in 6
sports| |Opening ceremony||February 3| |Closing
ceremony||February 13| |Officially opened by||Emperor Hirohito|
|Athlete's Oath||Keiichi Suzuki| |Judge's Oath||Fumio Asaki|
|Olympic Torch||Hideki Takada| |Stadium||Makomanai Open Stadium|
The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XI Olympic
Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event which was
celebrated from February 3 to February 13, 1972 in Sapporo,
Hokkaidō, Japan. It was the first Winter Olympics to be held
outside Europe and North America, and only the third game
(summer or winter) held outside those regions over all, after
Melbourne (1956 Summer Olympics) and Tokyo (1964 Summer
Olympics). Sapporo was the largest city to have held any Winter
Games at the time. Host city selection  Sapporo first won the
rights to host the 1940 Winter Olympics, but Japan resigned as
the Games' host after its 1937 invasion of China. The 1940 Games