TEAM USA!

As the Winter Olympics near the end we look back at some of the most interesting facts surrounding the Winter Olympics.

1. A lack of snow required military intervention in 1964.

A lack of snow in normally frosty Innsbruck threatened the 1964 Games. Called to action, the Austrian army scaled nearby snow-capped mountains and                  carted  more than 50,000 cubic yards of snow to the ski courses and 20,000 blocks of ice to the luge and bobsled tracks.

2. There were 16 events at the 1924 Winter Olympics compared with 102 events this year.

3. The USA is the only country to have won at least one gold medal in every Winter Olympics.

Britain has never won more than one gold medal at a Winter Olympics. Our best medal total is four, at both Chamonix 1924 and  Sochi 2014.

4. Norway has more gold medals than 100 countries have total medals.

5. The United States is the king  (and queen) of speedskating and figure skating.

6. The 2014 Winter Olympics was the first year women were allowed to participate in ski jump.

7. No country in the southern hemisphere has ever even applied to host the Winter Olympics.

8. Two men’s hockey teams from the United States arrived at the 1948 Games.

Two teams, backed by rival hockey associations, arrived at the 1948 St. Moritz Winter Games claiming they were the rightful squad to compete for the United    States. The team backed by the American Hockey Association, which included professionals, was ultimately recognized as the official American team, while the strictly amateur squad sponsored by the Amateur Athletic Union and the United States Olympic Committee sat on the sidelines and even booed their compatriots from the stands.

9. Smallest City to Host the Games

Pyeongchang is the smallest city to host the Olympic games since the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.