Amsterdam was chosen to host the 1928 Summer Games. Regulations at the time stipulated that the country hosting the Summer Games had priority in hosting the winter competitions. However, considering that it could offer no suitable site for the Winter Games, the Netherlands declined. The IOC then offered the Games to Saint-Moritz, located at the foot of the Swiss Alps. Japan participated for the first time with a delegation of six skiers and one official.

Once Los Angeles had been chosen as the site for the X Olympic Summer Games, the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) selected Lake Placid from among six contenders desiring to host the Winter Games. This small community of 3,000 near the Canadian border was nearly a full day’s journey by train from New York City. To offset this inconvenience, the USOC decided to create a Mecca for winter sports by investing in Lake Placid. The area experienced its warmest weather in 50 years, near the time of the Games, forcing changes in the ski courses, and European speed skaters, unfamiliar with the American-style group start, were dissatisfied with the Games.

Adolf Hitler was Chancellor of Germany in 1933. Although opposed to the Olympic ideals, he realized both the Winter and Summer Games offered an excellent opportunity to show to the world the glory of the Nazi regime.In the evening of February 5, 1936, the day before the opening of the Winter Games, IOC President Henri de Baillet Latour met Hitler. Latour demanded all anti-Semitic pamphlets and posters be removed immediately. Hitler refused, saying he would not allow interference in the affairs of his country. Latour threatened to exercise his prerogative as IOC President to have the Games canceled and, further, to take the Summer Olympics from Berlin and move them to another country. The next morning, all trace of anti-Semitic pamphlets and posters had disappeared.

No Games were held in 1940 or 1944, because of World War II. For the 1948 Games, Saint-Moritz was chosen as host for the second time, because Switzerland's neutrality during the war had saved it from the destruction sustained by other nations, and it was centrally located for many participating counties. It was an auspicious time to realize once more the benefits of peace.This festival of peace was tarnished, however, by the unusual situation of two ice hockey teams representing the United States: the team recognized by the USOC, and the team recommended by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). The Olympic Organizing Committee decided, in a somewhat irregular move, to allow both teams to participate in order to increase ticket revenue.

The Winter Games in Norway were planned in an imaginative way. The flame was kindled at the open hearth of the home of Sondre Norheim, Norway’s greatest skier, and carried in a relay race to the Bislett Stadium in Oslo.Attendance at all of the events was exceptional, especially at the ski jump venue at Holmenkollen, which attracted about 150,000 spectators. This figure has not been surpassed at any Olympic event, Summer or Winter.Oslo presented a flag for the Winter Games to the IOC, which has since been called the Oslo flag.

This was the first time the Soviet Union sent athletes to the Winter Games. In another reflection of changing times, East and West Germany, although divided, sent a joint delegation. Both countries agreed the Chef de Mission would come from the country having the most number of participating athletes, the delegations would compete under a tricolor flag with the Olympic mark in the center rather than national flags and use Ode to Joy from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony instead of national anthems. This arrangement was also seen at the XVI Summer Games in Melbourne the same year, and at both Summer and Winter Games in 1960 and 1964. The compromise well illustrated the genius and promise of the Olympic Movement.During these Games, Anton Sailer of Austria became a triple champion taking gold in three Alpine skiing competitions: Men’s Downhill, Slalom and Giant Slalom. Japan’s Chiharu Igaya, at the time a student at Dartmouth College in the U.S.A., placed second in the Slalom, becoming the first Japanese to win a medal at the Olympic Winter Games.

The host for the 1960 Winter Games, was chosen at the 1955 IOC Session in Paris. At the time very few IOC members could locate Squaw Valley on a map. Tucked away in northern California, 2,000 m above sea level on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, at more than 320 km from San Francisco, Squaw Valley had no winter sports facilities whatsoever.The main campaigner for Squaw Valley was Alexander Cushing, a large land owner in the area. After obtaining the approval of the American IOC members and influential members of the USOC, Cushing called on IOC members in many parts of the world. His efforts won out, with 32 votes cast for Squaw Valley, as opposed to 30 for Innsbruck, Austria.

Until this time, there was no customary site for kindling the Olympic flame for the Winter Games. Since 1964, the flame has been lit in front of the Temple of the Hera in Olympia, in the same manner as for the Summer Games.For the Innsbruck Games, the flame was carried from Greece and on January 29, 1964, was used to light the cauldron at the 90 m ski jump at Berg Isel, overlooking the city of Innsbruck, signaling the beginning of the Games.The 1964 Games were the scene of tragedy and disappointment. Innsbruck experienced its warmest winter in 58 years, with warm, dry föhn winds blowing down from the Alps, and minimal snow cover. Conditions at all venues were unsatisfactory, and partly blamed for the deaths of an Australian Alpine skier and a British Bobsleigh racer during practice runs.

French president Charles de Gaulle was determined to make the Games succeed beyond all expectations. The government staked its prestige on making the Winter Games at Grenoble the biggest ever. It invested huge sums in the construction and management of new facilities, road repairs and other public works. Calculated at exchange rates prevailing at the time, total spending came to about 88 billion yen.The hopes of the President and the people of France were focused on Alpine skier Jean-Claude Killy. Against considerable odds he became the second Alpine skier in the history of the Winter Olympics to win three golds, and France had a new hero.

Sapporo was chosen to host the XI Olympic Winter Games at the IOC Session held in Rome in April 1966, one and a half years after the Tokyo Games. IOC member in Japan, Shingoro Takaishi, unable to attend the meeting due to illness, sent a taped speech from his sickbed, beginning with the words, "My friends, ...." This emotional moment is said to have influenced the decision of those present to choose Sapporo for the 1972 Winter Games.The IOC and the International Ski Federation (FIS) disputed the question of amateur participation nearly until the Opening Ceremonies. IOC President Avery Brundage, nicknamed "Mr. Amateur," insisted skiers who had received money from equipment manufacturers were not considered to be amateurs, and therefore not qualified to compete. Meanwhile FIS threatened to boycott the ski competitions in Sapporo if any Alpine skiers were barred. The matter was settled for both parties when one celebrated Austrian Alpine skier was removed from the competition. This debate served to place greater scrutiny on what constitutes an amateur competitor.At these Games, Japan was in a state of excitement when three Japanese skiers, Yukio Kasaya, Akitsugu Konno and Kiyoji Aochi won the gold, silver and bronze medals in the 70 m ski jump.

Originally the host for the XII Olympic Winter Games was to be Denver, Colorado, a city of approximately 1,000,000 located in the Rocky Mountains. However, in May 1970, soon after Denver had been officially chosen, citizens’ groups campaigned to cancel the invitation, citing environmental and economic considerations. In November 1972, a referendum was held in Colorado calling for an amendment to a state law which would prohibit certain expenditures paid with state taxes. With the passing of this referendum the Denver Games were considered illegal. This left the Denver Olympic Organizing Committee with no choice but to notify the IOC of its withdrawal.In February 1973, IOC President Lord Killanin convened a meeting of Executive Board Members at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne where Innsbruck was chosen as the host.

Throughout the 1970s and the early 1980s, the IOC had difficulty finding hosts for both the Summer and Winter Games. The only candidate for the XIII Winter Games in 1980 was Lake Placid, and Los Angeles, for the XXIII Summer Games in 1984. The IOC vote for host of the 1980 Winter Games was unanimous for Lake Placid.The Winter Games in Lake Placid proceeded in a spirit of friendship and harmony, however, the U.S.A., West Germany, Japan and other nations in the western bloc boycotted the XXII Olympic Summer Games in Moscow just a few months later.During these Winter Games, Eric Heiden of the U.S.A. rose to almost super-human status by placing first in all five Speed Skating events.

Calgary finally attained its cherished goal to host the Olympics. The petition presented to the IOC by the broadcasting company that won the television rights for the U.S.A. stated the Winter Games should be as long as the Summer Games covering three weekends. This resulted in the lengthening of the 1988 Winter Games to sixteen days. Considering that the television companies pay high prices for broadcasting rights, it was not difficult for the IOC to concur with this request. The Calgary Games added seven events more to those held at Sarajevo and also included demonstration events in Freestyle Skiing, Short Track Speed Skating, and Curling. It would appear these additions were influenced by the power of television broadcasting.

Seven cities vied for the privilege of hosting the XVI Winter Games. This stiff competition was influenced by the Los Angeles Games which turned a profit by introducing the concept of marketing to the 1984 Summer Games. Albertville was chosen from among the candidates at the IOC Session in Lausanne in October 1986. These Games proved favorable for Japan. Although Japan had participated in all Winter Games since the second Games in Saint-Moritz in 1928, only seven medals had been earned by Japanese athletes. In Albertville, Japan gained another seven, including the gold medal won by Reiichi Mikata, Takanori Kono and Kenji Ogiwara in the Nordic Combined team competition. For Japan, winter sports had reached a new height.

From 1924 up through the 1992 Albertville Games, the Winter Games were celebrated independently from the Summer Games but held a few months prior in the same year. To give greater strength to the Olympic Movement, in October 1986 the IOC decided at its Session in Lausanne to hold the XVII Winter Games in 1994, advancing the date by two years.The town chosen to host the first Olympic Winter Games under this new system was Lillehammer, a small town of 23,000 inhabitants in the land of winter sports, Norway. The Lillehammer Olympic Organizing Committee (LOOC), giving the environment top priority, advocated holding a "Green Games" in harmony with nature. Thus, a new chapter has been added to the Olympic Winter Games.

People in Nagano Prefecture have dreamed for decades of hosting the Winter Games. Nagano made bids to be the Japanese candidate city for what would have been the 1940 Games, and again for the 1992 Games. In February 1985, the prefectural assembly voted unanimously to bid for the Winter Games. A committee headed by Governor Goro Yoshimura was set up to promote Nagano's candidacy and to select suitable sites for events within the prefecture. Three other locations in Japan also expressed a desire to host the Games, but the Japanese Olympic Committee chose Nagano City as Japan's candidate for IOC screening. On June 15th, 1991, at the 97th IOC Session in Birmingham, England, the words, "The City of Nagano" announced the new host city.