12 February 2010 sees the start of the XXI Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.
In 1921, the International Olympic Committee gave its patronage to a Winter Sports Week to
take place in 1924 in Chamonix, France. With 258 athletes from 16 countries competing in 16 events watched by 10,000 paying spectators it was deemed a huge success.
It was retrospectively named the First Olympic Winter Games.
In contrast, the 2010 games is staging 84 events and expecting at least 2,500 athletes
from over 80 countries and will be broadcast to 3 billion television viewers.
Click here for TopFoto’s complete history of the Winter Olympics.
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