These were the last Winter Games to be staged in the same year as the Summer Games. They were also the first Games where the Winter Paralympics and the Winter Olympics were held at the same site.
The modern OlympicGames began in Athens, Greece, in 1896, two years after French educator Pierre de Coubertin proposed that the OlympicGames of ancient Greece be revived to promote a more peaceful world.
Although the Olympic Charter, the official constitution of the Olympic movement, proclaims that the Olympics are contests among individuals and not among nations, the IOC assigns to the various NOCs the task of selecting national Olympic teams.
Women’s Olympic sports have grown significantly since then, and currently women account for approximately half of the members of teams, except in teams from Islamic nations, where the level of female participation is generally lower.
This decision caused the Swiss and Austrian skiers to boycott the Olympics.
The 1940WinterOlympics had originally been awarded to Japan, and were supposed to be held in Sapporo, but Japan had to give the Games back in 1938, because of the Japanese invasion of China in the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945).
In 1952, the WinterGames came to Norway, considered to be the birthplace of modern skiing.
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