List of participating nations at the Winter Olympic Games
The first Winter Games were held in 1924, in Chamonix, France. They were originally called "International Winter Sports Week" and held in association with the 1924 Summer Olympics, but were in retrospect designated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the "I Olympic Winter Games".
Sixteen nations participated in these Games: fourteen from Europe and two from North America.
Four years later, 25 nations were represented at the 1928 Winter Olympics, in St. Moritz, Switzerland, including Argentina (the first nation from the Southern Hemisphere), Japan (the first Asian nation), and Mexico.
Participation in the 1932 Games, held in Lake Placid, United States, during the Great Depression, was reduced to 17 nations.
The 1936 Winter Games, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, had 28 participating nations, the largest number to that date.
These would be the last Winter Games for twelve years, as the planned 1940 Games and 1944 Games were cancelled due to World War II.
List of Olympic venues in figure skating
For the Summer and Winter Olympics, there are 27 venues that have been or will be used for figure skating. This is one of two sports in the Winter Olympics to debut in the Summer Olympics with ice hockey being the other. The first venue for the event took place during the 1908 Games was held indoors. Twelve years later, the venue joined ice hockey as another Winter Olympic sport in the Summer Olympics. For the first two Winter Olympics, figure skating was held outdoors. With figure skating being held outdoors, there were weather concerns with thawing for the first two Winter Games. A suggestion by International Olympic Committee President Count Henri de Baillet-Latour to 1932 Olympic Organizing Committee President Godfrey Dewey in September 1930 led Dewey to create the first indoor arena for the Winter Olympics. For the 1936 Games, the venue was covered partially. Following World War II, the 1948 venue became the first venue to be used twice at the Winter Olympics since it had been used twenty years earlier. Figure skating's final competition that took place outdoors was in 1956 though that venue has since had a roof added to it. Since 1960, all figure skating competitions have taken place indoors. Three National Hockey League (NHL) venues have hosted Olympic figure skating competitions: the 1988 (both venues) and the 2010 though the NHL Vancouver Canucks moved out of the 2010 venue following the 1994–95 season. The 2002 venue was a National Basketball Association (NBA) venue which meant the Utah Jazz was on a road trip during the 2002 Games.