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Individual competitions in this sportThe first time was held at the Olympic Games in Chamonix, in 1924. The first gold Olympic medal was won by the Norwegian athlete Turleyf Haug. Participants jumped from a 60-meter springboard and ran a distance of 18 km. Over the years, the height of the springboard increased, and the length of the race decreased. Currently, the individual offset includes a jump from the middle springboard height of 105 meters and a ski race at 10 km. In jumping points are awarded for the length of the flight and the technique of execution. Athletes who score the most points are the first to start in the race, the winner is the first who crosses the finish line. Teams of 4 people take part in team competitions. In the first part of the competition, each participant commits one jump from a springboard with a height of 140 meters. Points of all team members add up. The ski race is held in the form of a 4 × 5 km relay race. Competitions in Nordic Combat are held two days: the first - jumping from a springboard, the second day - the race. The result is determined by the sum of the points for the performance of both exercises. In 1999, a new kind appeared - a double-event sprint. It takes place during one day: after a jump from the 120-meter springboard, after an hour the participants come out to a distance of 7.5 km. In the course of the development of Nordic Combined, many technical innovations - modern skis, mounts, boots, V-shaped The position of the skis during the flight and the skate course during the race. Skiing biathlon is a men's sport, women do not take part in it. Soviet and Russian doubles have managed to achieve success at the Olympic Games only twice. At the 1988 Games in Calgary, Estonian Allar Levandi won bronze in individual competitions, as did Valery Stolyarov at the 18th Olympic Winter Games in Nagano. Most of the Olympic gold medals belong to Norwegians.

The history of this sport includes severalnot even hundreds, but thousands of years. Similar actions can be seen in primitive hunters, who on self-made skis in winter went out hunting and shot at targets - animals. At that time, the reward for successful shooting and the race was mining. Today the principle has remained the same, only the reward has changed. The principle of the competition looks simple enough. There are several disciplines within a single race. One of them is a sprint. In this case, men run a distance of 10 km, women a little less - 7.5 km. During the race, they must stop to shoot twice and get into 5 targets. Each miss adds to the athlete a penalty 150 meters circle for the run. Those who are the first to finish the sprint race (and that's about 60 athletes) immediately go into the pursuit race. This section is a 12.5 km race for men and 10 km for women. The start of a competitor is determined by the time that was scored in the sprint. To make shots, participants must stop 4 times. Five targets are the norm for each of them. Here, for each miss, an additional 150 meter penalty circle is also added. The next stage of the biathlon competition is a personal championship. The race track here is 20 km for men and 15 km for women. 4 shooting ranges, at which athletes should shoot. Here the system of accrual of penalties for mistakes changes a little - an additional minute is added to the personal time of each competitor for each missed goal. Then there is only a team relay race. The team consists of 4 people. Everyone should run a distance of 7.5 km. During the race you need to hit 5 targets. In case of a miss, each participant is assigned an additional 150 meter circle. Biathlon is considered one of the most expensive sports. Special equipment, ammunition and, of course, weapons. Since the 70s of the last century small-caliber carbines have been used for biathlon. They help to reduce the shooting distance to 50 m. And this helped to increase the security in the stadiums and significantly reduce the size of special areas where the race takes place.

Originally, the Olympics was to be held in the US,in Denver. However, the city residents voted against the holding of the games in a referendum, so the Olympic Committee was in a difficult situation. As a result, the Olympic Games were accepted by Innsbruck, who had already held them in 1964. Participation in the Winter Olympics was attended by 1123 people from 37 countries. Competitions were held in ten sports disciplines: mountain skiing, bobsledding, speed skating, biathlon, jumping, toboggans, cross-country skiing, cross-country skiing, figure skating, hockey. As a result of the Olympics, unconditional victory was won by athletes from the Soviet Union who won 13 gold, 6 silver and 8 bronze medals. The second place was occupied by the GDR with 7 gold, 5 silver and 7 bronze medals. Representatives of the United States got the third place - 3 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze medals. One of the most spectacular competitions in the winter Olympic games is always hockey. Unfortunately, in Innsbruck, the Canadian team did not act, boycotted the games, so in the final for the right to be called the strongest team of the world fought eternal rivals - the teams of the USSR and Czechoslovakia. The beginning of the meeting was not in favor of hockey players from the USSR, already in the first half they lost with a score of 0: 2. In the second half, they managed to recoup, but in the third, eight minutes before the end, the Czechs again came forward. However, their expectations were not to come true - the goals of Alexander Yakushev and Valery Kharlamov allowed the team from the USSR to become champions for the fourth time in a row. Chekham got second place, the third was taken by athletes from Germany. The Soviet athletes also performed well in figure skating. Gold in pair skating was won by Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev, the victory in ice dancing was won by Lyudmila Pakhomova and Alexander Gorshkov. In men's single skating, silver was given to Vladimir Korolyov, who was second only to the brilliantly speaking British John Curry. Women's gold medal was deservedly won by American Dorothy Hamill. Sad games were also for Soviet skiers. In the race for 30 kilometers, Sergey Saveliev won the victory, in the 15-kilometer race the first two places were occupied by Nikolai Bazhukov and Yevgeny Belyaev. In the team race, the Soviet Union team managed to win bronze, gold was won by athletes from Finland. The women in the 10 km ski race were Raisa Smetanina, the Soviet girls won gold and in the relay race. The gold medal was taken to the USSR and the biathletes - in the individual race for 20 kilometers first was Nikolai Kruglov, there were no equal to Soviet athletes and in the relay race. The Winter Olympics of 1976 became one of the most successful for athletes from the USSR and became a history of Soviet and Russian sport forever.

By the time of the XIV Winter Olympic GamesSarajevo was the capital of one of the Union republics of Yugoslavia with a population of more than 500 thousand inhabitants. It was not a state-of-the-art metropolis - houses in a hilly area were compactly located along narrow streets, along which trams ran. Such conditions excluded the eternal problem of megacities in the organization of large forums - traffic jams. The opening ceremony was held on February 8, 1984, but the competition was started the day before - the tournament was started by hockey players. On that day, the USSR national team won the biggest victory of this tournament, defeating the Poles with a score of 12: 1. This team also became the Olympic champion-1984, leaving on the second place eternal rivals - the national team of Czechoslovakia. At the Games of the Winter Olympics in 1984 for 12 days, 39 sets of awards in ten sports were played. According to its results in the team classification, the USSR was the first in the total number of awards (25), but lost to the GDR (24 medals) for their quality - the Germans had three gold awards more. Unsuccessful was the unsuccessful performance of US athletes - the team of this country was only the fifth in the number of awards (8), losing by this indicator Finland (13) and Norway (9). The Austrian team also failed, which was always strong in winter sports - it got only one bronze award. But the only award won by the hosts team was on the contrary recognized as a great success - a silver medal in supergiant slalom was the first in the Olympic history of this country. A total of 1272 sportsmen from 49 countries took part in Sarajevo Olympic starts.

Especially for the Olympics in Calgary and neighboringthe town of Kenmore, five new sports facilities were built and several existing ones were reconstructed. The XV Winter Olympic Games were officially opened on February 13, 1988 at the city stadium "McMahon". Prior to that, within 88 days the country passed the Olympic torch relay - 18 thousand kilometers did the torch not only in the hands of runners, but also on snow and dog sleds. It was one of the longest relay races in the history of the Winter Olympics. The games of 1988, like the previous ones, were held with the undisputed leadership of athletes from the USSR and the GDR. This time the Soviet Olympians managed to get around German and in the number of awards (29 to 25), and in their capacity (2 gold medals more). Out of 11 medals of the highest caliber won by Soviet athletes, five were won in ski races for men and women. In both disciplines of pair figure skating, the first and second places were occupied by representatives of the Soviet Union. Again, the USSR team won in the hockey tournament. The GDR athletes had no equal in luge sports - in three disciplines they won six awards out of nine, losing to their neighbors from West Germany one silver and one bronze, and the Soviet athlete only one bronze medal. Distinguished Olympians from East Germany and in skaters competitions, having won in them a bloody dozen medals. Even worse than at the previous Olympiad in Sarajevo, American athletes performed. By the number of medals the US team was in the ninth place, having won three awards in skating and figure skating. The owners of the XV Winter Games won less medal, but there was no gold among them. A total of 46 sets of awards were fought, and more than 1,400 athletes from 57 countries competed for them.

The Olympics in Albertville was held from 8 to 23February 1992. It became the sixteenth Winter Olympics. Over 1.8 thousand athletes from 64 countries came to the games. It was played 57 sets of medals in 13 disciplines. On the official emblem of the competition was the Olympic flame, which was painted in the colors of the French region of Savoy. The mascot of the Games in Albertville was a fictional character named Mazhik - half human, half deity. The French themselves positioned it as a fairy elf. In its form it looked like a star. In Albertville for the first time in the history of the modern Olympic movement the original talisman was replaced. First, mountain chamois were approved in this capacity, but this image did not become popular, so it was decided to replace it. Alberwyl may be considered the capital of the Olympics with a big stretch. In this city, less than a third of all medal kits were played. All because the sports facilities were not concentrated in one place, but scattered around the 12 nearest villages and towns to Albertville. In connection with this, not one big Olympic village was built, but six small ones. After the competition, the local municipality found them proper use, but the impressive size of the "Theater of ceremonies", where the opening and closing of the Olympics was held, was soon dismantled to the very bottom as unnecessary. The torch with fire for the opening ceremony was delivered on the supersonic airplane "Concord". For the first time in the Olympic program there were competitions on short track, freestyle and women's biathlon. Curling, speedsking, and also acrobatics on skis entered the demonstration program of these games. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the so-called united team came to the Albertville Olympics. It had an unofficial name - the CIS national team and performed under the hymn and banner of the International Olympic Committee. The composition of this team included six states: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia. The athletes of the united team were able to win 23 medals, 9 of which turned out to be the highest dignity. The Baltic republics of the former USSR: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania acted separately. Also, the former Yugoslav republics of Slovenia and Croatia preferred to "solo". Team Germany, on the contrary, after the fall of the Berlin Wall came to Albertville in the combined. In men's ski races there was no equal to the Norwegians. They could be the first at all distances. Especially distinguished skier Vegard Ulvang, who won three gold and one silver. In women's ski races, the most successful athletes from the combined team. The heroine was Lyubov Yegorova. In biathlon, the leadership was captured by athletes from Germany, France and the CIS team. In speed skating, the Germans had a big advantage. Triumphators in figure skating were athletes of the CIS team. In the team championship, Germany's athletes won. On the second position there were Olympians of the CIS, and on the third - Norway.

As the Olympic Games of our timeThey gained popularity, attracted more and more participants, and their program expanded. The number of Olympic sports has steadily increased. Already at the second games, held in 1900 in Paris, the athletes fought for awards in 20 sports. True among them were even such exotic species (from the point of view of today), like cricket, croquet and tug of war. This process continued uninterruptedly. Some new species were added to the Olympic program, some, on the contrary, were excluded from it. The decision on this is taken by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), based on many factors: the prevalence of this sport, the degree of its popularity in a particular country, the ability to attract a television audience, interest from advertisers, etc. Currently, the program of the Summer Olympic Games includes 28 sports, in the winter program - 7 (15 disciplines). Among the summer Olympic sports there are water sports - swimming, synchronized swimming, jumping, rowing, kayaking and canoeing, rowing, sailing. There are martial arts - boxing, judo, taekwondo, freestyle wrestling, classical (Greco-Roman) wrestling. There are cycling - road racing, track racing, mountain biking (mountain biking). There are sports team games: basketball, volleyball, beach volleyball, handball, football, golf. And so on. Winter as Olympic types, as can easily be understood from the name itself, are those that can be practiced on snow or on ice. The first group includes: skiing, skiing, cross-country skiing, jumping, snowboarding, freestyle and biathlon. The second group includes: curling, speed skating, figure skating, hockey, short track, luge, bobsleigh, skeleton. Of course, this list is not final, it will also vary depending on the circumstances.

Skiing is a descent into theskiing with snow-covered slopes. The winner of the competition is determined by the time spent on overcoming the route, the length and complexity of which depend on the specific type of sport discipline. With slalom, its length reaches 500 m. The athlete must not miss any of the gates located on the descent. For men and women, the standard for their number is 60-75 and 50-55, respectively. Each participant has two attempts. The amount of time spent on both descents is determined by the winner. The length of the route for giant slalom reaches 2.5 km. In addition, the difference in altitude varies from 250 to 450 m. In this competition, women have only one attempt. The supergiant match is held on the track with elevations from 250 to 450 m in men and from 250 to 400 m in women. The rapid descent is carried out on the highway, the length of 2 to 4 km. The number of control gates here is small - 11-25, and the difference in altitude is 500 - 1000 m. Athletes develop speeds of up to 100 km / h or more. The double-event includes slalom and downhill. The sports equipment consists of skis and ski poles. Depending on the type of descent, the equipment can be of various shapes, length and width and made of different materials. Thanks to this, skis and sticks can withstand loads during the race. Slalom athletes have strong plastic boots, the special sole of which allows them to exert additional pressure on the ski surface, waterproof suits and safety glasses. Clothing is made from high-tech fabrics designed to minimize air resistance. Ski glasses protect the eyes of athletes from the sun, wind and snow. Sometimes, instead of glasses, a mask can be used, which performs the same functions. Also in the equipment includes a helmet, which protects the head from injury.

Translated from English the word "freestyle"means "free style". This is the free style of skiing. This species is managed by the International Ski Federation. Performing various acrobatic numbers on skis athletes began a long time ago. The first somersault was recorded back in the 20s of the last century. However, for a long time, fans of classical skis did not want to recognize freestyle as an independent sport. Seriously did not belong to him and was considered a kind of show. Athletes successfully attracted tourists to mountain resorts. The first official competition for the new sport took place in 1971. By this moment the best masters of acrobatics and moguls have achieved excellent technique. The competition rules were developed and approved seven years after the first competitions. At the White Olympiads, four sets of awards are played. Competitions in mogul and acrobatic jumps are held among men and women. The first Olympic discipline of freestyle was mogul. This species has much in common with traditional mountain skiing, however the competitions are held on special hilly routes. In the "pre-Olympic era" these routes arose spontaneously. The hillocks appeared from the frequent turns of the skiers in the same place. The modern route for the mogul has a length of 250 m and it is steeper than the slalom. In addition, the athlete must perform 2 acrobatic leaps. In offset is not only the speed of the distance, but the technique of making turns and jumps. At the next Olympic Games in Lillihamere, there were already two kinds of freestyle. The mogul was joined by acrobatic jumps. Athletes jumped from three springboards of different heights. The largest one has a height of 3.5 m, an average height of 3.2 m and a small height of 2.1 m. At the 1994 Games in Nagano, springboards were already seven, and athletes could choose them to their taste. In any competitions in acrobatic jumps, the results of two jumps are taken into account. The panel of judges awards points for the technique of performing the separation, the quality of the performance of the jump and the acrobatic element. The jump complexity factor is also taken into account. At the construction of springboards for acrobatic jumps, strict security requirements are made. The site to which athletes land must be covered with loose soft snow.