ISOH

The first Winter Olympics took place in 1924, but winter events were already conducted in 1908 and 1920, and more were planned for the cancelled 1916 Games. Why did it take so long before Winter Olympics were introduced? One of the reasons is the Nordic Games, an event held between 1901 and 1926.

The Nordic Games were held in Sweden, by an organization headed by IOC member colonel Victor Balck (pictured). He was very protective of the Nordic Games, and successfully held off separate Winter Olympics, while refusing to have the Nordic Games declared Olympic.

Read more about the Nordic Games in this 1994 Citius, Altius, Fortius article by Ron Edgeworth, available from AAFLA.

In the very first issue of the ISOH’s Journal of Olympic History (then still called Citius, Fortius, Altius), Pete Cava gives an overview of the history of baseball in the Olympics up to 1991.

Baseball is the sport with the longest Olympic history without being an actual medal sport, being contested as a demonstration sport in 1912, 1936, 1956, 1964, 1984 and 1988. In addition, the Finnish sport of pesapällo was demonstrated in 1952. In 1992, baseball finally became Olympic, but it will disappear from the programme again after the 2008 games, as was decided by the IOC in 2005.

Read Pete Cava’s full article at AAFLA.