History of the Olympic Winter Games

In February 2002, amidst the splendour of the Rocky Mountains, the XIX Olympic Winter Games take place in the United States, in Salt Lake City. On this occasion, let us journey back to the past so that we can better understand the formidable evolution of winter sports. First of all, let us imagine these superb Greek athletes who faced one another in the sanctuary of Olympia, dominated by Mount Kronion, and with the eyes of the judges and their coaches upon them. Once the competition was over, like true professionals, they travelled some 100 kilometres to the centre of Peloponnese, near Tripoli and Kalavrita, to compete in the winter sports arena at an altitude of more than 2,000 metres. Can this, somewhat unusual, hypothesis, of athletes whose bodies were covered with furs and not smothered in oil, using instruments to slide across the snow be validated? We can, indeed, think so when considering the numerous discoveries made by researchers on the subject.