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.
Kandahar Ski Club
The first Winter Olympic Games also took place in 1924 as did the foundation of the FIS. There were only Nordic events at these games and the FIS was concerned only with these. The club's aim was to ensure that the Alpine disciplines were included in the future. In the same year the club issued a challenge to the British skiers in Wengen across the valley. The competition was for a slalom and a downhill race, which was won by the Kandahar. The skiers from Wengen went on to form the "Downhill Only Ski Club" (DHO). Swiss skiers also shared the objectives of the Kandahar. In Mürren were brothers Walter and Max Amstutz, both of whom were keen downhill skiers and were friends with the British. Walter Amstutz founded the "Schweizerischen Akademischen Skiklub" in November 1924.