Here are some facts for this day. You are welcome to log your interesting, quirky or fun fact/s with your log.
On This Day - January 25th
World History
1924 - The first Winter Olympics open.
The Olympic Games were established with the ancient Olympics, held in Olympia, Greece from the 8th century BC to the 5th century AD. Interest in the Games declined with the rise in Roman influence in Greece, and for centuries, the tradition languished. During the 1700s and 1800s there were sporadic attempts to resurrect the Games, but it was not until 1896 that the Games of the Olympiad were revived. From early in the twentieth century, the showcase for winter sports was the Nordic Games, which began in Sweden in 1901. Due to the popularity of the Olympic Games in the twentieth century, several offshoots were spawned, among them the Paralympics, Youth Olympics and Winter Olympics.
The opening ceremony for the first Winter Olympics was held on 25 January 1924. The ceremony was held at Chamonix, France, at the foot of Mount Blanc. The original events included alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping, and speed skating. Since then, the Winter Olympics have expanded to include events such as luge, short track speed skating, and freestyle skiing. Countries in North America, Europea and Asia have hosted the Winter Olympics but, to date, the Games have not been held in the southern hemisphere.