The History of Winter Olympic Games - Term Paper Example

The History of Winter Olympic Games Affiliation: Introduction The winter Olympic Games are the Olympic Games that happen in February during winter and are hosted in only those nations that experience winter in February. The games were officially started in 1924 and have been taking place every four years but in 1992, it started being alternated with the summer Olympic and was therefore held in 1994 instead of 1996. The Olympics games so far have over 15 games ranging from: figure skating, alpine skating, ice hockey, ski jumping, and freestyle skating among many others.

The nations that have participated are over 11 with the US leading in hosting over 4 of the games (Books Llc, 2010). World WarsThe Winter Olympic Games were disrupted by both World War 1 and World War 2. Other than the games being completely canceled because of the war and the plans being suspended, there were strained relations after the war between the nations that had been at war and their allies (Wickenheiser, 2009). The Olympic Games were feared to be held in some nations such as the Soviet Union after the war for fear of reaction of the enemies of the Soviet Union.

The Worlds Wars also led to world depression and hence after the wars, few nations were able to participate in the next winter Olympic Games as the rest lacked expense money. The participants even from the nations that attended were few. Doping and bribing controversiesDoping has been a headache to the organizers of this particular sport as with many other sports. The measures taken since 1967 have been to perform random drug tests on the participants and banning those found with positive results.

The most common doping drugs are the performance enhancers. The other controversy that has rocked these games is the bribing of the planning committee officials with expensive gifts in order for their countries to be selected to host the games. The most controversial and which saw 10 officials sent packing is the 2002 Salt Lake City, USA Olympics (Gerlach, 2004). PoliticsPolitics have always been a silent but present issue in these winter Olympic Games. Most nations still have cold war amongst themselves and they push them in the games.

Some nations use the winter Olympic Games as an opportunity to show off to the nations and those which have been successful in the number of medals use this as a way to express their powers such as the US. The nations that have always had a grudge against each other go to the extent of skipping the winter games when they take place in the enemy country. Even though the politics are silent and not expressed openly, it still affects the sole purpose of the games which is to bring the nations together (Cha, 2013).

ConclusionEven though the Winter Olympic Games has been rocked by controversies and mishaps, the games have been a success so far and the major success was derived from television broadcasting of these games to the whole world. The continual increase of nations participating and the number of participants in the many games has brought people together and increased economic and social cohesion and success amongst these nations (Toohey, 2007). ReferencesBooks Llc. (2010). Winter Olympic Games. New York: General Books LLC.Cha, V. (2013).

Beyond the Final Score: The Politics of Sport in Asia. Columbia: Columbia University Press. Gerlach, L. (2004). The Winter Olympics: From Chamonix to Salt Lake. Utah: The University of Utah Press. Toohey, K. (2007). The Olympic Games: A Social Science Perspective. New York: CABI. Wickenheiser, H. (2009). The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics. California: Greystone Books.