document_title: A Series of Unfortunate Events (TV series)

question_text: a series of unfortunate events season 1 episode 2

text: Premise

text: When a mysterious fire kills their parents, the Baudelaire children are placed into the care of their distant relative Count Olaf, an actor who is determined to claim the family fortune for himself. Following Olaf's failed attempt and his plot being exposed, the Baudelaires set out to elude Olaf and uncover the mystery behind a secret society from their parents' past.

text: Cast and characters

text: Main

text:
Neil Patrick Harris as Count Olaf,[4] an actor determined to claim the Baudelaire fortune for himself. He possesses a spyglass with the structure of an eye similar to his tattoo on his left ankle.
Patrick Warburton as Lemony Snicket,[5] the narrator tasked with explaining the events during the lives of the Baudelaires.
Malina Weissman as Violet Baudelaire,[6] the eldest Baudelaire sibling and inventor talented in mechanics.
Louis Hynes as Klaus Baudelaire,[6] the middle Baudelaire child interested in literature and books.
K. Todd Freeman as Arthur Poe,[7] the family banker and executor of the Baudelaire parents who is in charge of placing the Baudelaires in the care of a suitable guardian.
Presley Smith as Sunny Baudelaire,[8] the infant child of the Baudelaires with unnaturally strong teeth. Tara Strong provides the quasi-nonsensical lines of Sunny.[9]
Lucy Punch as Esmé Squalor, a wealthy financial advisor and wife of Jerome Squalor, who is also the student and potential love interest for Count Olaf.[10]
Avi Lake as Isadora Quagmire,[11] Duncan and Quigley's sister who loves writing poetry.
Dylan Kingwell as Duncan and Quigley Quagmire, Isadora's two brothers who are twins. Duncan is a keen journalist.[11]

text: Recurring

text:
Will Arnett as Father,[12][13] a man who is trying to return home to his three children.
Cobie Smulders as Mother,[13] a woman who is trying to return home to her three children.
Usman Ally as the Hook-Handed Man,[14] a member of Count Olaf's theatre troupe with hooks instead of hands.
Matty Cardarople as the Henchperson of Indeterminate Gender,[14] another member of Count Olaf's theatre troupe.
Cleo King as Eleanora Poe, Arthur Poe's wife and the editor-in-chief of The Daily Punctilio, who loves pursuing sensationalist headlines.
John DeSantis as the Bald Man,[15] a large bald-headed man who is another member of Count Olaf's theatre troupe.
Jacqueline and Joyce Robbins as the White-Faced Women,[14] two elderly twins who are members of Count Olaf's theatre troupe.
Sara Canning as Jacquelyn, Mr. Poe's standoffish assistant and a member of the Baudelaire family's secret society. She possesses a spyglass.
Patrick Breen as Larry Your-Waiter, a member of the Baudelaire family's secret society who is seen working as a waiter at various establishments the Baudelaires visit, including the Anxious Clown and the Café Salmonella.
Sara Rue as Olivia Caliban, a librarian at Prufrock Preparatory School who later enlists as a member of the Baudelaire family's secret society when she becomes invested in the Baudelaires' plight.[10][16][17]
Nathan Fillion as Jacques Snicket, the dashing adventurer brother of Lemony Snicket who enlists Olivia Caliban to help the Baudelaires.[10]

text: Guest

text: Introduced in season 1

text:
Joan Cusack as Justice Strauss,[18] a judge and Count Olaf's neighbor who helps the Baudelaires and is hopeful to adopt them.
Luke Camilleri as Gustav Sebald,[14] a member of the Baudelaire family's secret society and Monty's former assistant.
Aasif Mandvi as Montgomery "Uncle Monty" Montgomery,[19] a distant relative of the Baudelaires and enthusiastic herpetologist who claims to have spent his childhood with their late parents. He is a member of the Baudelaire family's secret society and possesses a spyglass.
Alfre Woodard as Aunt Josephine Anwhistle,[20] a distant relative of the Baudelaires at Lake Lachrymose who has many rational and irrational fears and a love of grammar. She is a member of the Baudelaire family's secret society.
Don Johnson as Sir,[21] the cigar-smoking owner of Lucky Smells Lumbermill.
Catherine O'Hara as Georgina Orwell,[22] an optometrist and Count Olaf's ex-girlfriend who hypnotizes the Lucky Smells Lumbermill workers so they never leave, also causing them to believe the Baudelaire parents set fire to Paltryville. O'Hara previously portrayed Justice Strauss in the 2004 film adaptation.
Rhys Darby as Charles,[12] Sir's partner.
Timothy Webber as Jimmy, a worker at Lucky Smells Lumbermill.
Chris Gauthier as Phil, an optimistic worker who befriends the Baudelaires during their stay at the Lucky Smells Lumbermill.
Loretta Walsh as Norma Rae, a worker at Lucky Smells Lumbermill.
Trent Redekop as Cesar, a worker at Lucky Smells Lumbermill.

text: Daniel Handler cameos as a fish head salesperson at Lake Lachrymose. Barry Sonnenfeld does a picture cameo as the late Ike Anwhistle in "The Wide Window" and appears as him in a flashback scene in "The Carnivorous Carnival" Pt. 1.

text: Introduced in season 2

text:
Roger Bart as Nero Feint, the violin-playing vice-principal of Prufrock Preparatory School with an egotistic personality and a love for excessive punishments.[10]
Kitana Turnbull as Carmelita Spats, an obnoxious, tutu-wearing student at Prufrock Preparatory School.[23]
Bronwen Smith as Miss Tench, Prufrock Preparatory School's gym teacher who is replaced in the post by a disguised Count Olaf.[17]
Malcolm Stewart as Mr. Remora, a teacher at Prufrock Preparatory School who specializes in personal anecdotes.[17]
BJ Harrison as Mrs. Bass, a teacher at Prufrock Preparatory School who specializes in measuring objects. She later becomes a bank robber.[17]
Barry Sonnenfeld as the voice of Mr. Tammerlane, a teacher at Prufrock Preparatory School.
Tony Hale as Jerome Squalor, the timid husband of Esmé Squalor.[10]
Ithamar Enriquez as Hector, a skittish handyman and citizen of the Village of Fowl Devotees who befriends the Baudelaires.[16]
Mindy Sterling as Elder Anabelle, a member of the Village of Fowl Devotees' group of Elders.[17]
Carol Mansell as Elder Jemma, a member of the Village of Fowl Devotees' group of Elders.[17]
Ken Jenkins as Elder Sam, a member of the Village of Fowl Devotees' group of Elders.[17]
Lossen Chambers as Mrs. Morrow, an inhabitant of the Village of Fowl Devotees that wears a pink robe.
Kevin Chamberlin as Mr. Lesko, an inhabitant of the Village of Fowl Devotees that wears plaid pants.
John Bobek as the bearded leader of the Volunteers Fighting Disease.[17]
Kerri Kenney-Silver as Babs, the Head of Human Resources and Hospital Administration at Heimlich Hospital.[17]
David Alan Grier as Hal, a visually-disabled file clerk who is employed in the Library of Records at Heimlich Hospital.[24]
Robbie Amell as Kevin, an ambidexterous "freak" who works at the Caligari Carnival.[25]
Kevin Cahoon as Hugo, a hunchbacked "freak" who works at the Caligari Carnival.[17]
Bonnie Morgan as Colette, a contortionist "freak" who works at the Caligari Carnival.[17]
Allison Williams as a yet-unidentified woman who arrives to see the Caligari Carnival engulfed in flames.[26]

text: Episodes

text:
Season
Episodes
Originally released

1
8
January 13, 2017 (2017-01-13)

2
10
March 30, 2018 (2018-03-30)

3
7
TBC

text: Season 1 (2017)

text: The first season adapts the first four books of the novel series: The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room, The Wide Window and The Miserable Mill.[27]

text:
No.
overall
No. in
season
Title
Directed by
Written by
Original release date

1
1
"The Bad Beginning: Part One"[a]
Barry Sonnenfeld
Daniel Handler
January 13, 2017 (2017-01-13)

Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire receive the news that their parents have perished in a house fire from well-meaning but inept banker Arthur Poe. While exploring the ruins, Klaus finds a broken spyglass with an insignia of an eye embedded on the front. Shortly afterwards, they are sent to live with their distant relative Count Olaf, a cruel and vain amateur actor, who forces them into servitude. One night, the siblings prepare puttanesca for Olaf's theatre troupe only for him to demand roast beef upon arriving home. The children state that they were never asked to prepare roast beef, angering Olaf and prompting him to slap Klaus across the face when he protests about the sleeping arrangements. Meanwhile, a mother and father are held against their will by a mysterious captor.

2
2
"The Bad Beginning: Part Two"[a]
Barry Sonnenfeld
Daniel Handler
January 13, 2017 (2017-01-13)

The Baudelaires attempt to convince Mr. Poe of Olaf's actions, only to be sent away when Poe dismisses their claims. When Olaf gives Violet the starring role in his latest theatrical production, which ends with the two main characters being married, the siblings realize that Olaf intends to acquire their fortune by marrying Violet for real. Klaus confronts Olaf, who threatens to kill Sunny if Violet doesn't follow through with his plans. At the very last minute, however, Violet signs the marriage certificate with her left hand, invalidating the proceedings due to the fact that she is right-handed. Mr. Poe's mysterious secretary Jacquelyn reveals they were intended to be put in the care of their distant relative Montgomery Montgomery. Meanwhile, Jacquelyn's ally Gustav is mysteriously drowned, after being hit by a poisoned dart.

3
3
"The Reptile Room: Part One"
Mark Palansky
Daniel Handler
January 13, 2017 (2017-01-13)

The Baudelaires are sent to live with their herpetologist uncle Montgomery Montgomery, who has recently come across a reptile he calls the Incredibly Deadly Viper. While attempting to learn more about Montgomery, Klaus discovers that the hedge maze in Montgomery's garden is exactly the same shape as the tattoo on Olaf's ankle. Olaf poses as Montgomery's new assistant Stephano and attempts to kidnap the Baudelaires, but Monty assures the Baudelaires that he recognizes Stephano as a threat. The four arrive at a movie theatre, where Monty deciphers a code sent for him through the subtitles of the film, using a spyglass identical to Klaus'. The message instructs him to bring the children to Peru. He fires Stephano shortly afterwards, believing him to be a spy sent to steal his research.

4
4
"The Reptile Room: Part Two"
Mark Palansky
Emily Fox
January 13, 2017 (2017-01-13)

Immediately after dismissing "Stephano," Montgomery notices that the door to his Reptile Room is ajar and investigates, only to be attacked by an unseen figure. The next day, the Baudelaires discover Olaf standing next to Montgomery's corpse. Olaf threatens to kill Sunny unless the siblings accompany him to Peru, but is prevented from carrying out his plan when Mr. Poe accidentally crashes into their car when they are trying to leave. Olaf's theatre troupe then arrives disguised as police and nurses, and claim Monty was killed by the Incredibly Deadly Viper, despite Monty's claim of it being completely harmless. While searching for proof of the snake's innocence, Klaus discovers a statue in Monty's hedge maze, and a photograph of Monty, both of them carrying spyglasses identical to Klaus'. Violet proves Olaf to be the murderer; however, he escapes via the hedge maze with Klaus' spyglass. While pursuing him, the Baudelaires meet Jacquelyn, who is posing as a statue. She tells them to seek answers on the spyglasses from their Aunt Josephine while she hunts down Olaf via underground passageways.

5
5
"The Wide Window: Part One"
Barry Sonnenfeld
Daniel Handler
January 13, 2017 (2017-01-13)

Mr. Poe takes the Baudelaires to live with their Aunt Josephine, an irrationally frightened woman who lives in a dilapidated house overlooking Lake Lachrymose. She refuses to answer questions about their parents, so the siblings pursue answers themselves around her house, and discover their parents were members of a secret organization, with spyglasses being used as useful devices. They are also shocked to find out that Josephine was once fierce and formidable, and developed her phobias after the death of her husband. Olaf, who has followed the Baudelaires, disguises himself as a sailor named Captain Sham before pretending to fall in love with Josephine. Despite the siblings' warnings, Josephine accepts his invitation to take her out for a fried egg sandwich. Later that night, the siblings discover that Josephine has jumped out the library's bay window and left a note informing them that "Captain Sham" is their new guardian.

6
6
"The Wide Window: Part Two"
Barry Sonnenfeld
Daniel Handler
January 13, 2017 (2017-01-13)

As Mr. Poe prepares to hand the Baudelaires over to "Captain Sham," the siblings discover the note has several grammatical errors, something Josephine would never do since she was obsessed with proper grammar. Mr. Poe takes the children to a restaurant and prepares to complete the transfer, but allows the siblings to leave after Larry, a waiter secretly a member of their parents' organization, triggers their allergy to peppermint. After returning to the house, the siblings decipher Josephine's suicide note and discover she is still alive moments before a hurricane sends the house teetering over the cliff. Escaping with a photograph of their parents standing in front of a lumber mill, the siblings find Josephine at a nearby cave, only to be confronted by Olaf, who abandons Josephine to be eaten alive by the leeches that inhabit Lake Lachrymose. Upon returning to shore, Olaf escapes after being unmasked in front of Mr. Poe while the Baudelaires sneak away and set out to find the lumber mill in the photograph.

7
7
"The Miserable Mill: Part One"
Bo Welch
Joe Tracz
January 13, 2017 (2017-01-13)

Upon arriving at the Lucky Smells Lumber Mill, the Baudelaires are forced to work by the owner Sir, who blames their parents for starting a fire that destroyed the entire town. While investigating the workers' unnaturally happy behavior, Klaus' glasses are broken by the Hook-Handed Man posing as Foreman Flacutono, and he visits local optometrist Georgina Orwell, who puts him into a hypnotic trance. Later that day, the siblings learn that two visitors are waiting to see them. Believing that their parents are still alive, the three are shocked to instead find Orwell and her receptionist "Shirley St. Ives," who is a poorly-disguised Olaf. Meanwhile, the mother and father who were previously held captive are revealed to be the parents of the Quagmire triplets, with whom they are reunited.

8
8
"The Miserable Mill: Part Two"
Bo Welch
Tatiana Suarez-Pico
January 13, 2017 (2017-01-13)

The Baudelaires discover the entire mill is under a hypnotic trance, ensuring they do not leave their jobs. Orwell and Olaf use a still-hypnotized Klaus to murder Sir's aide Charles, but Violet figures out how to break everyone's trance in the nick of time. The workers then storm the mill, causing Orwell to fall into the furnace and die. Sir, Olaf, and the Hook-Handed Man all escape in the chaos. Charles reveals the truth about the Baudelaires' role in the town, where they actually helped to fight the fire. The three siblings are reunited with Mr. Poe, and Jacquelyn sends Klaus the broken spyglass that Olaf stole from him. Poe then sends the three siblings to a dreary boarding school, which two of the three Quagmire siblings are also sent to, due to their house being burnt down by an unknown woman. The Quagmires' parents are revealed to be members of the organization. In the final scene, Lemony Snicket, Count Olaf, the Baudelaires and Mr. Poe sing the song "That's Not How the Story Goes."

text: Season 2 (2018)

text: The second season adapts books five through nine of the novel series: The Austere Academy, The Ersatz Elevator, The Vile Village, The Hostile Hospital, and The Carnivorous Carnival.[30]

text:
No.
overall
No. in
season
Title [b]
Directed by
Written by
Original release date

9
1
"The Austere Academy: Part 1"
Barry Sonnenfeld
Daniel Handler
March 30, 2018 (2018-03-30)

The Baudelaires are introduced to life at Prufrock Preparatory School, an unpleasant institution run by an unpleasant vice-principal named Nero and terrorized by an equally unpleasant student named Carmelita Spats. The school's only redeeming qualities are its friendly librarian, Olivia Caliban, and the surviving Quagmire triplets, Duncan and Isadora. During a lunch break, Klaus and Isadora discover that they are holding two halves of the same spyglass. The newfound friends quickly realize that they must track down a book on secret organizations to find the answers they seek—a book Jacquelyn sent Larry to give them, but which he carelessly misplaced. Meanwhile, Count Olaf and his troupe lurk around the grounds of the school, unable to enter the front doors due to an advanced computer system programmed by Nero to detect Olaf's presence. However, with Carmelita's help, Olaf finally gains entry and locks Larry in the cafeteria's walk-in refrigerator. He then dons his latest disguise: the school's new turban-wearing gym teacher.

10
2
"The Austere Academy: Part 2"
Barry Sonnenfeld
Joe Tracz
March 30, 2018 (2018-03-30)

Olaf is able to convince Nero to put the Baudelaires under a grueling exercise program, making the siblings run endless laps at night to prevent them from scheming against him, while also causing them to perform poorly in class from lack of sleep. Due to their slumping grades, Nero threatens to expel the Baudelaires if they fail a comprehensive exam to be given in front of the entire school, but because they must still exercise under Olaf's program, they know they will likely fail. The Quagmires offer to help, and that night take their place during exercises; however, their identity is discovered, and while hiding in the library, they find the copy of the book on secret organizations and read up on the purpose of the spyglass before they are caught by the Hook-Handed Man. The next day, with Mr. Poe in attendance, the Baudelaires readily pass the exam, and through it reveal Olaf's identity. Olaf and his gang then escape with the Quagmires, who try to shout the initials "V.F.D." from the backseat of Olaf's car. Meanwhile, Larry is rescued from the refrigerator with the help of Lemony's brother, Jacques, while Olivia walks off with the book on secret organizations that the Quagmires left behind.

11
3
"The Ersatz Elevator: Part 1"
Bo Welch
Daniel Handler
March 30, 2018 (2018-03-30)

While a citywide manhunt for Count Olaf is underway, Mr. Poe takes the Baudelaires to the penthouse of Jerome Squalor and his trendy financial advisor wife Esmé. While being introduced to the Squalors, they find Olaf has already arrived, posing as a foreign auctioneer named Gunther. The Baudelaires theorize that Olaf is trying to kill Jerome so that he can marry Esmé and become their legal guardian again. They search the penthouse for the Quagmires to no avail, but Klaus becomes suspicious of an extra elevator that only seems to serve the penthouse. Meanwhile, Olivia tries to convince Mr. Poe about Olaf's scheme, which leads Jacquelyn to contact Jacques, who enlists her into their society. Esmé suggests they go out for lunch at a fashionable salmon-themed restaurant, where Larry works to prolong their visit, giving Jacques and Olivia time to search the Squalor's building for the Quagmires. When the Baudelaires manage to sneak away and examine the second elevator, they learn that it is merely an empty shaft. With a makeshift parachute, they descend it to find the Quagmires locked in a cage at its bottom.

12
4
"The Ersatz Elevator: Part 2"
Bo Welch
Daniel Handler
March 30, 2018 (2018-03-30)

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The Baudelaires do not have the tools to free the Quagmires, so they ascend the shaft by turning the parachute into a hot-air balloon. Finding Esmé alone and Jerome drugged, the Baudelaires try to warn her of Olaf's scheme, but learn too late that she is in cahoots with him and that they are planning to smuggle the Quagmires out of the city as an item in an upcoming auction. Esmé pushes them down the elevator shaft, where they are caught in a net midway down. Sunny helps them to escape safely, and afterwards they find a secret passage that leads to the ashen ruins of their home. As Esmé and Olaf start the auction, the Baudelaires, the Poes, and the secret society's volunteers converge on Veblen Hall and start a bidding war on a box labeled "V.F.D.", which the Baudelaires believe contains the Quagmires. Though the Baudelaires win the auction, they find the box contains only very fancy doilies. In the aftermath, Olaf and his troupe escape with a red herring statue—the real auction item that holds the Quagmires. The Baudelaires ask Jerome to help track down Olaf, but he is far too timid to do so, and gives up his guardianship of them. Mr. Poe tells the children that a village with the initials "V.F.D." is willing to raise them.

13
5
"The Vile Village: Part 1"
Barry Sonnenfeld
Sigrid Gilmer
March 30, 2018 (2018-03-30)

Mr. Poe drops the Baudelaires off at the Village of Fowl Devotees, where the whole community will care for them collectively (in reality, they just want the children to do all their chores). The Baudelaires take up residence with Hector, a kindly handyman prone to fainting spells who is secretly building a self-sustaining hot-air mobile home, and soon begin finding clues written by the Quagmires themselves. Olaf, Esmé, and the troupe also arrive at the village, with Esmé disguising herself as the town's new chief of police. Jacques and Olivia also arrive and detain Olaf at the local jailhouse; the next day, the villagers learn of Olaf's capture and hold a town hall meeting, where Olaf appears in the disguise of Detective Dupin, tricking everyone into believing Jacques is Olaf. Jacques is sentenced to death, but Olivia convinces Esmé to free her and Jacques in exchange for the location of the Sugar Bowl, an object with ties to Esmé's past. Jacques stays behind to confront Olaf; however, the villain is unfazed by Jacques' offer of a truce, and he and Esmé incapacitate and kill him. The next morning, as the Baudelaires try to break into the jail to rescue Jacques, they are informed that "Olaf" has been murdered.

14
6
"The Vile Village: Part 2"
Barry Sonnenfeld
Sigrid Gilmer
March 30, 2018 (2018-03-30)

The disguised Olaf and Esmé quickly convince Mr. Poe and the town that the Baudelaires murdered Jacques/"Olaf," and they are promptly condemned to be burned at the stake. While in jail, the children instruct Hector to prepare his hot-air mobile home to help them escape. While Violet creates a battering ram to weaken the jail wall, Klaus deduces from their clues that the Quagmires are hidden inside a crow fountain in the village square. Larry and Jacquelyn arrive on the scene to distract the villagers long enough for the children to escape via a fire truck and follow Hector. The Baudelaires cover for the Quagmires as they use the truck's ladder to climb aboard the mobile home. As they do so, Olaf, Esmé, and the villagers arrive, and Esmé begins damaging Hector's home with a harpoon gun. Realizing their danger, the Baudelaires tell Hector to escape with the Quagmires. In thanks, the Quagmires try to throw their friends their notes about the secrets of V.F.D., but Esmé shoots them with a harpoon, scattering the pages and harming a crow. While the villagers accost the villains over the injured bird, the Baudelaires collect as many of the ruined pages as they can and make their escape.

15
7
"The Hostile Hospital: Part 1"
Alan Arkush
Joshua Conkel
March 30, 2018 (2018-03-30)

The Baudelaires hitch a ride with volunteer singing candy stripers heading to Heimlich Hospital. They learn that there is a Library of Records that collects and stores esoterica. After sneaking past the hospital's administrator, they meet Hal, the man who runs the library. He welcomes their help, but forbids them to read material in storage. While Hal shows them the ropes, a film reel labeled "Snicket" arrives and catches the children's attention. Meanwhile, believing the Sugar Bowl to be in the hospital, Olaf and his troupe infiltrate the building. Desperate for answers, the children are forced to steal Hal's keys to access the library, where they find the film. It contains a debriefing of Jacques by a V.F.D. volunteer, with Jacques informing the interviewer that someone has survived a fire, which may or may not be the one that killed the Baudelaire's parents. However, before they can watch any further, they are interrupted by Esmé; as they try to escape, the library is ruined. Violet is captured by Olaf while Klaus and Sunny hide in a chute, in possession of the film.

16
8
"The Hostile Hospital: Part 2"
Alan Arkush
Joshua Conkel
March 30, 2018 (2018-03-30)

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Olaf and Esmé hide Violet under a false name and warn the rest of the hospital to watch out for Klaus and Sunny, identifying them as murderers. To find Violet, Klaus disguises himself as "Dr. Faustus," with Sunny hidden in a sling underneath his coat. They eventually find the patient list and deduce which room Violet is in, but this is a trap laid by Olaf, who forces Klaus to operate on Violet inside an operating theater. Esmé promises to call off the scheme if Klaus can give her what he stole from the Library of Records, and he does so—only, it's not the Sugar Bowl that she has been searching for. Olaf, however, is interested in the Snicket film, and dashes off to watch it to learn its secret. Furious at its revelations, he burns the film, which also starts a fire in the hospital. He then convinces everyone that the Baudelaires started it. The Baudelaires successfully escape the hospital during the mass evacuation, and as there are police around, they realize that their only chance to escape safely is in the trunk of Olaf's car. Unbeknownst to them, Olaf is headed to the Caligari Carnival, where Madame Lulu the psychic promises to shed light on the survivor. Elsewhere, an unknown person recovers the Sugar Bowl from the hospital.

17
9
"Carnivorous Carnival: Part 1"[c]
Loni Peristere
Joe Tracz
March 30, 2018 (2018-03-30)

A flashback to a masked ball at the V.F.D. headquarters shows Lemony trying to warn Beatrice about Olaf. In the present, Olaf and his troupe arrive at the Caligari Carnival to speak with Madame Lulu about the fire's survivor. Lulu, who is really Olivia in disguise, tells them to wait for the answer in the morning. The Baudelaires overhear this, and hoping to speak to Lulu as well, assume the identities of circus freaks, with Violet and Klaus as a two-headed person and Sunny as a wolf child. After calling V.F.D., Olivia is able to tell Olaf the next day that one of the Baudelaire parents did indeed survive the fire. Olaf then presents a freak show that proves disastrous, so he sets off to find a pack of roaming lions to help attract a larger crowd. This gives an opportunity for the children to sneak into Lulu's tent, where they discover films, books, and disguises belonging to the Volunteer Fire Department—the secret organization their parents and guardians belonged to. Olivia then appears and reveals her true identity to them.

18
10
"Carnivorous Carnival: Part 2"[c]
Loni Peristere
Joe Tracz
March 30, 2018 (2018-03-30)

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Olivia explains to the Baudelaires that "Madame Lulu" is an alias used by V.F.D. agents to gather information. She also suggests that the children head to the Mortmain Mountains, where the V.F.D. headquarters is located, to find their surviving parent. While Violet arranges for transportation, Olaf plans to throw one of the freaks into a pit filled with the hungry lions he has corralled. Esmé convinces the other freaks to push Lulu into the lion pit, with the promise that they can join Olaf's troupe. The next day, Olaf starts the show and selects Violet and Klaus for the pit. When Olivia is told to push the children to the lions, she instead pushes them to safety, reveals her true identity, and is sent tumbling into the pit by Olaf for her troubles. As the children try to collect the V.F.D. materials from Lulu's tent, Olaf arrives and forces them to burn the tent down. Then, after placing Violet and Klaus in a towed caravan and taking Sunny in his car, Olaf has the other freaks cut the towing rope on a steep mountain path, causing the caravan to careen backward and hang off a cliff's edge. At the same time, the last operative to pose as Madame Lulu arrives at the burning carnival, and Lemony informs us that he knows her well.

text: Season 3 (2019)

text: The third season plans to adapt the final four books of the novel series[30] in seven episodes: The Slippery Slope, The Grim Grotto and The Penultimate Peril will be adapted into two episodes each, and The End will conclude the series with a longer single episode.[33] Barry Sonnenfeld will adapt the episodes for The Penultimate Peril.[33] Liza Johnson and Jonathan Teplitzky will also direct episodes in this season.[34][35][36]

text:
No.
overall
No. in
season
Title
Directed by
Written by
Original release date

16
1
"The Slippery Slope: Part 1"
TBC
TBC
TBC

17
2
"The Slippery Slope: Part 2"
TBC
TBC
TBC

18
3
"The Grim Grotto: Part 1"
TBC
TBC
TBC

19
4
"The Grim Grotto: Part 2"
TBC
TBC
TBC

20
5
"The Penultimate Peril: Part 1"
TBC
TBC
TBC

21
6
"The Penultimate Peril: Part 2"
TBC
TBC
TBC

22
7
"The End"
TBC
TBC
TBC

text: Production

text: Development

text: The thirteen A Series of Unfortunate Events novels, written by Daniel Handler under the pen name Lemony Snicket from 1999 to 2006, achieved success in young adult fiction around the same time as the Harry Potter novels. As such, the Snicket books had been optioned to be filmed before they were published.[37] This led to the development of a 2004 feature film, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, which covered the narratives of the first three novels in the series. Barry Sonnenfeld, who has expressed his love for the series, was originally slated to direct the feature film, and had hired Handler to write the screenplay.[38] About 10 months into production, shortly after the casting of Jim Carrey as Olaf, there was a "big crisis", according to Handler, which caused producer Scott Rudin to walk away and Sonnenfeld left the production under unclear terms.[37] With the film's completion in flux, its producing studios Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks fired Handler. While the film was eventually completed and released, sequels which would adapt the other novels in the series became unlikely due to "corporate shakeups" within DreamWorks, according to Handler, and the child actors that portrayed the Baudelaire children grew too old to star in a sequel.[38]

text: In November 2014, Netflix, in association with Paramount Television, announced its plans to adapt the novels into an original television series, with the author of the series, Daniel Handler, serving as executive producer.[39]

text: In September 2015, it was announced that Barry Sonnenfeld and Mark Hudis had agreed to helm the series. Hudis would serve as showrunner, Sonnenfeld as director, and both as executive producers,[40] with Handler writing some of the scripts along with working with the series' writing team.[30] However, in January 2016, Netflix announced that Hudis had left the project, with a replacement showrunner not named at the time.[4]

text: The first season consists of eight episodes,[5] with two episodes adapting each of the first four books of the series.[27] Handler considered this more in line with how he had written the books in the manner of a serialized melodrama, citing The Perils of Pauline as one of his influences in writing the book series.[41] In January 2017, Handler revealed that he was writing the series' second season, to consist of ten episodes adapting the fifth through ninth books of the series. A third season would adapt the remaining novels of the series, which Handler hoped "to get the go-ahead to do" since "given how quickly young actors age and change, we're trying to film everything as quickly as possible."[30] In March 2017, Netflix revealed the series had been renewed for a second season by releasing a video on their social media pointing to a viral marketing website, where a letter written by Snicket revealed the decision.[42] A month later, the series was "quietly" renewed for a third season,[43] which Harris confirmed would be the final one for the series.[44]

text: Casting

text: On December 3, 2015, an open casting call was announced for the roles of Violet and Klaus Baudelaire.[45] In January 2016, Netflix announced that Neil Patrick Harris had been cast as Count Olaf and Malina Weissman and Louis Hynes were cast as Violet and Klaus.[4][6] Handler had first considered Harris for the role of Olaf after seeing him perform the opening number "It's Not Just for Gays Anymore", at the 65th Tony Awards in 2011, noting "I just immediately saw someone who could pull off a million things at once" as was necessary for the character of Olaf, who utilizes various disguises and accents in his quest to steal the Baudelaire fortune.[46]

text: In March 2016, K. Todd Freeman was cast as Mr. Poe,[7] followed shortly after by the casting of Patrick Warburton as Lemony Snicket,[5] and Aasif Mandvi as Uncle Monty.[19] In September 2016, it was revealed that Dylan Kingwell and Avi Lake were cast as the Quagmire siblings, Duncan and Isadora, respectively.[11] In November 2016, Handler revealed Catherine O'Hara, Don Johnson, and Alfre Woodard had been cast as Dr. Georgina Orwell,[22] Sir,[21] and Aunt Josephine, respectively;[20] O'Hara had previously portrayed Justice Strauss in the 2004 film adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events.[22] It was also revealed that Presley Smith would play Sunny Baudelaire,[8] whose quasi-nonsensical lines are voiced by Tara Strong,[9] and Rhys Darby would play Charles, Sir's partner.[12]

text: Filming

text: Production began in May 2016 in Vancouver, British Columbia,[47][48] and in August 2016 several cast members expressed through social media that filming had finished.[49] Filming for the second season began in April 2017.[50] The third season began filming on January 5, 2018.[51]

text: One aspect of the series of books that the production team wanted to be captured in the series was the notion of a lack of specific time period or geography for the settings; Handler stated that he wrote enough for establishing set pieces, but purposely left more specific details vague "in order for young readers to fill in the blanks themselves." Sonnenfeld wanted to capture that same sense of ambiguous time and place, and he and his team worked to try to define a set of subjective rules of what elements could be included. Sonnenfeld brought on Bo Welch, production designer for Edward Scissorhands, which Handler considered to capture the same sense of a "familiar but completely imaginary" suburban setting he had in mind for his books. While the production team used computer-generated imagery where needed, they attempted to avoid this use where possible, such as by using large painted backdrops, by key scenic artist John E. Wilcox, rather than employing green screen filming.[41]

text: Music

text: In April 2016, Nick Urata was initially reported to be composing music for the series.[52] Once the first season was released, it was revealed that Urata collaborated with Daniel Handler to compose the main title theme, as well as various original songs that appear throughout the series, with Handler contributing the lyrics. The first season's original score was composed by James Newton Howard, with his frequent collaborators Sven Faulconer and Chris Bacon filling in to score certain episodes.[53] In season two, Jim Dooley joined the production as composer and subsequently wrote the music for all ten episodes.[54]

text: Visual effects

text: Zoic Studios created visual effects for the series, including the effects for many of Sunny Baudelaire's actions.[55] Tippett Studio also did work on the series, including the effects for the destruction of Josephine's house, landscape shots of Lake Lachrymose and some of the more movement heavy Sunny Baudelaire shots.[56]

text: Release

text: All eight episodes of the first season of A Series of Unfortunate Events were released worldwide on Netflix on January 13, 2017,[18] in Ultra HD 4K.[57] The second season was released on March 30, 2018.[58]

text: Marketing

text: On July 5, 2015 a video titled "An Unfortunate Teaser" was uploaded to YouTube by a user named "Eleanora Poe". Netflix quickly released a statement saying "This was not released from Netflix." Media outlets were almost unanimous in agreement that the trailer was fan-made.[59][60][61][62] However, Caitlin Petrakovitz of CNET argued that the trailer may be real and that Netflix's carefully worded denial was a marketing campaign, noting the user name "Eleanora Poe" being the same as a character from the series, and that a vinyl record seen in the trailer was of The Gothic Archies, a band who provided the theme music for the audio books of A Series of Unfortunate Events.[63] The trailer was later revealed to be a spec promo, similar to a spec script, by an independent commercial director, whom Netflix contracted to make a title sequence for the series after the video's popularity, though they did not go ahead with the concept.[64]

text: In October 2016, Netflix released the first teaser trailer for A Series of Unfortunate Events, where Warburton narrates the events of the series as Lemony Snicket.[18] A trailer, featuring footage from the series and Neil Patrick Harris's character, Count Olaf, was released by Netflix in November 2016,[65] followed shortly by the first full trailer.[8] The second trailer was released in December 2016,[66] followed by a "holiday-themed" trailer from Count Olaf leading fans to a viral marketing website for the fictional Valorous Farms Dairy, which featured four holiday e-cards for download.[67]

text: Reception

text: Audience viewership

text: As Netflix does not reveal subscriber viewership numbers for any of their original series, Symphony Technology Group compiled data for the first season based on people using software on their devices that measure television viewing by detecting a program's sound. According to Symphony, 3.755 million viewers age 18-49 were watching an episode of A Series of Unfortunate Events over the average minute in its first weekend of release.[68]

text: Critical response

text: Season 1

text: The first season of A Series of Unfortunate Events received critical acclaim. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the season an approval rating of 94% based on 62 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Enjoyably dark, A Series of Unfortunate Events matches the source material's narrative as well as its tone, leaving viewers with a wonderfully weird, dry, gothic comedy."[69] On Metacritic the season has a score of 81 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[70]

text: Erik Adams of The A.V. Club awarded the season a B and praised it for treating "mature themes like grief, loss, and disappointment with sardonic honesty." Adams compared the program positively to the Adam West Batman series, calling it "kids stuff with adult sophistication, driven by two-part stories, outrageous visuals, and the scenery-chewing of big-name guest stars".[71] Ben Travers of Indiewire gave the series an A-, saying that it "proves as inspirational and endearing as it claims to be forlorn and heartbreaking". Brian Lowry of CNN praised the showrunners for "infusing the show with a lemony-fresh feel, conjuring a series similar to the fantastical tone of Pushing Daisies". Lowry wrote that "the show proves a good deal of fun" and that "Harris dives into his over-the-top character with considerable gusto." He also argued that the series improved upon the 2004 film.[72]

text: Several critics praised the television series as a better adaptation of the books than the 2004 feature film, which starred Jim Carrey as Count Olaf. Kelly Lawler of USA Today felt the television format gave the stories more room to develop, the addition of Warburton as the fourth wall-breaking Snicket helped to convey some of the wordplay humor used in the books, and Harris's portrayal of Olaf was "much more dynamic, and creepier" than Carrey's version.[73] The Verge's Chaim Gartenburg said that the show follows the books much more faithfully than the film, and "nails down the tone that made the stories so special".[74] Los Angeles Times writer Robert Lloyd felt that the backgrounds of Sonnenfeld and Welch made them "the right people for this job, set in a milieu that is hard to fix in time, except to say it is not now", in capturing the tones of the book compared to the feature film.[75]

text: Nick Allen of RogerEbert.com, on the other hand, gave the series a negative review, calling it "an unfunny parody of sadness" that is "never as clever as it wants to be" and would only appeal to fans of the books.[76] Caroline Framke of Vox Media praised the series for its unique and weird visuals, but found the show's tone, pacing and performances to be haphazard and considered the show to be "literally, a series of unfortunate events".[77]

text: Season 2

text: As with the first season, the second season of A Series of Unfortunate Events received critical acclaim. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the second season an approval rating of 100% based on 10 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10.[78] Clarisse Loughrey of The Independent praised the show as one that "essentially deals with thoughtful, intelligent young people battling to speak up against an illogical world." While observing that the "show may revel in the miserable", she opined "that the purpose of its own morbidity is to offer the assurance that hope lives in even the darkest of places." Loughrey also credited the show's expanded storyline for the Baudelaire's adult allies for "plumping up" the episodes' narrative arcs and deepening the show's emotional impact.[79]

text: Tristram Fane Saunders of The Telegraph awarded the second season four out of five stars. He described the show as a "gothic treat [that] also offers a wicked line in absurdist humour, and the most gorgeously toybox-like set designs you’ll find anywhere outside a Wes Anderson film."[80] Radio Times reviewer Huw Fullerton praised the series for its faithfulness to the original novels. While praising the improved CGI used to make Presley Smith's character Sunny Baudelaire react better to situations, he criticized the addition of supporting "good" characters such as Nathan Fillion's Jacques Snicket and Sara Canning's Jacquelyn for "undercutting the bleakness and loneliness that characterized the novels."[81]

text: Rohan Naahar of the Hindustan Times described A Series of Unfortunate Events as "one of the most lavish originals in Netflix's bottomless catalogue, created by fans, for fans." He also praised Neil Patrick Harris' performance as Count Olaf.[82] The Den of Geek reviewer Michael Ahr praised tortoise-shell 'amphibiophones' and stone marimbas score for giving the television series its primal sound.[83] IGN reviewer Jonathon Dornbush criticized the second season's formulaic plot structure and lack of the insightful observations compared to the first season. He also praised several of the second season's episodes particularly "The Ersatz Elevator", "The Hostile Hospital", and "The Carnivorous Carnival" for smartly twisting the story formula and deepening the novel series' mythology. Dornbush also praised the performance of guest stars such as Lucy Punch and Patrick Warburton and awarded the second season 7.2 stars.[84]

text: Awards and nominations

text:
Year
Award
Category
Nominee
Result
Ref

2017
Leo Awards
Best Visual Effects in a Dramatic Series
Luis Alejandro Guevara, Bob Habros, Cale Jacox, Ron Simonson, Jeffrey De Guzman
Nominated
[85]

Best Make-Up in a Dramatic Series
Rita Ciccozzi, Krista Seller, Tanya Hudson, Gitte Axen
Won

Best Hairstyling in a Dramatic Series
Julie Mchaffie, Dianne Holme, Jenine Lehfeldt
Won

Best Guest Performance by a Female in a Dramatic Series
Sara Canning
Nominated

Saturn Awards
Best New Media Television Series
A Series of Unfortunate Events
Nominated
[86]

Creative Arts Emmy Awards
Outstanding Music Composition for a Series
James Newton Howard
Nominated
[87]

Gold Derby TV Awards
Comedy Actor
Neil Patrick Harris
Nominated
[88]

Hollywood Music in Media Awards
Main Title Theme – TV Show/Limited Series
Nick Urata and Daniel Handler
Won
[89]

2018
Satellite Awards
Best Actor in a Series - Comedy or Musical
Neil Patrick Harris
Nominated
[90]

text: Notes

text:
^ Jump up to: a b Netflix and critics name the first two episodes as "The Bad Beginning", following the title of the book, while the episode itself displays the name of "A Bad Beginning" after the opening credits.[28][29]
Jump up ^ Netflix names the episodes of the second season as Part 1 and Part 2, while the episodes themselves display the names as Part One and Part Two after the opening credits, following the format of the first season.
^ Jump up to: a b Netflix names the ninth and tenth episodes as "Carnivorous Carnival", while the episodes themselves display the name of "The Carnivorous Carnival" after the opening credits, following the title of the book.[31][32]

tag: ol


document_title: Winter Olympic Games

question_text: who has the most medals in this year's winter olympics

question_tokens: who has the most medals in this year 's winter olympics

root

text: Winter Olympic Games

text: History

text: 20th century

text: 1900 to 1912

text: A predecessor, the Nordic Games, were organised by General Viktor Gustaf Balck in Stockholm, Sweden in 1901 and were held again in 1903 and 1905 and then every fourth year thereafter until 1926.[5] Balck was a charter member of the IOC and a close friend of Olympic Games founder Pierre de Coubertin. He attempted to have winter sports, specifically figure skating, added to the Olympic programme but was unsuccessful until the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom.[5] Four figure skating events were contested, at which Ulrich Salchow (10-time world champion) and Madge Syers won the individual titles.[6][7]

tag: p

text: Three years later, Italian count Eugenio Brunetta d'Usseaux proposed that the IOC stage a week of winter sports included as part of the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. The organisers opposed this idea because they desired to protect the integrity of the Nordic Games and were concerned about a lack of facilities for winter sports.[8][9][10]

text: World War I

text: The idea was resurrected for the 1916 Games, which were to be held in Berlin, Germany. A winter sports week with speed skating, figure skating, ice hockey and Nordic skiing was planned, but the 1916 Olympics was cancelled after the outbreak of World War I.[9]

text: 1920 to 1936

text: The first Olympics after the war, the 1920 Summer Olympics, were held in Antwerp, Belgium, and featured figure skating and an ice hockey tournament.[9] Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey were banned from competing in the Games. At the IOC Congress held the following year it was decided that the host nation of the 1924 Summer Olympics, France, would host a separate "International Winter Sports Week" under the patronage of the IOC. Chamonix was chosen to host this "week" (actually 11 days) of events. The Games proved to be a success when more than 250 athletes from 16 nations competed in 16 events.[11] Athletes from Finland and Norway won 28 medals, more than the rest of the participating nations combined.[12] Germany remained banned until 1925, and instead hosted a series of games called Deutsche Kampfspiele, starting with the winter edition of 1922 (which predated the first Winter Olympics). In 1925 the IOC decided to create a separate winter event and the 1924 Games in Chamonix was retroactively designated as the first Winter Olympics.[9][11]

text: St. Moritz, Switzerland, was appointed by the IOC to host the second Winter Games in 1928.[13] Fluctuating weather conditions challenged the hosts. The opening ceremony was held in a blizzard while warm weather conditions plagued sporting events throughout the rest of the Games.[14] Because of the weather the 10,000 metre speed-skating event had to be abandoned and officially cancelled.[15] The weather was not the only noteworthy aspect of the 1928 Games: Sonja Henie of Norway made history when she won the figure skating competition at the age of 15. She became the youngest Olympic champion in history, a distinction she held for 70 years.[16]

text: The next Winter Olympics held in Lake Placid, New York, was the first to be hosted outside of Europe. Seventeen nations and 252 athletes participated.[17] This was less than in 1928, as the journey to Lake Placid, United States, was long and expensive for most competitors, who had little money in the midst of the Great Depression. The athletes competed in fourteen events in four sports.[17] Virtually no snow fell for two months before the Games, and there was not enough snow to hold all the events until mid-January.[18] Sonja Henie defended her Olympic title, and Eddie Eagan of the United States, who had been an Olympic champion in boxing in 1920, won the gold medal in the men's bobsleigh event to become the first, and so far only, Olympian to have won gold medals in both the Summer and Winter Olympics.[17]

text: The German towns of Garmisch and Partenkirchen joined to organise the 1936 edition of the Winter Games, held on 6–16 February.[19] This was the last time the Summer and Winter Olympics were held in the same country in the same year. Alpine skiing made its Olympic debut, but skiing teachers were barred from entering because they were considered to be professionals.[20] Because of this decision the Swiss and Austrian skiers refused to compete at the Games.[20]

text: World War II

text: World War II interrupted the holding of the Winter Olympics. The 1940 Games had been awarded to Sapporo, Japan, but the decision was rescinded in 1938 because of the Japanese invasion of China. The Games were then to be held at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, but the 1940 Games were cancelled following the German invasion of Poland in 1939.[21] Due to the ongoing war, the 1944 Games, originally scheduled for Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy, were cancelled.[22]

text: 1948 to 1960

text: St. Moritz was selected to host the first post-war Games in 1948. Switzerland's neutrality had protected the town during World War II, and most of the venues were in place from the 1928 Games, which made St. Moritz a logical choice. It became the first city to host a Winter Olympics twice.[23] Twenty-eight countries competed in Switzerland, but athletes from Germany and Japan were not invited.[24] Controversy erupted when two hockey teams from the United States arrived, both claiming to be the legitimate U.S. Olympic hockey representative. The Olympic flag presented at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp was stolen, as was its replacement. There was unprecedented parity at these Games, during which 10 countries won gold medals—more than any Games to that point.[25]

text: The Olympic Flame for the 1952 Games in Oslo, was lit in the fireplace by skiing pioneer Sondre Nordheim, and the torch relay was conducted by 94 participants entirely on skis.[26][27] Bandy, a popular sport in the Nordic countries, was featured as a demonstration sport, though only Norway, Sweden, and Finland fielded teams. Norwegian athletes won 17 medals, which outpaced all the other nations.[28] They were led by Hjalmar Andersen who won three gold medals in four events in the speed skating competition.[29]

text: After not being able to host the Games in 1944, Cortina d'Ampezzo was selected to organise the 1956 Winter Olympics. At the opening ceremonies the final torch bearer, Guido Caroli, entered the Olympic Stadium on ice skates. As he skated around the stadium his skate caught on a cable and he fell, nearly extinguishing the flame. He was able to recover and light the cauldron.[30] These were the first Winter Games to be televised, and the first Olympics ever broadcast to an international audience, though no television rights were sold until the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.[31] The Cortina Games were used to test the feasibility of televising large sporting events.[31] The Soviet Union made its Olympic debut and had an immediate impact, winning more medals than any other nation.[32] Soviet immediate success might be explained by the advent of the state-sponsored "full-time amateur athlete". The USSR entered teams of athletes who were all nominally students, soldiers, or working in a profession, but many of whom were in reality paid by the state to train full-time.[33][34] Chiharu Igaya won the first Winter Olympics medal for Japan and the continent of Asia when he placed second in the slalom.[35]

text: The IOC awarded the 1960 Olympics to Squaw Valley, United States. It was an undeveloped resort in 1955, so from 1956 to 1960 the infrastructure and all of the venues were built at a cost of US$80,000,000.[36][37] The opening and closing ceremonies were produced by Walt Disney.[38] The Squaw Valley Olympics was the first Winter Games to have a dedicated athletes' village,[citation needed] the first to use a computer (courtesy of IBM) to tabulate results, and the first to feature female speed skating events. The bobsleigh events were absent for the only time due to the cost of building a bobsleigh run.[38]

text: 1964 to 1980

text: The Austrian city of Innsbruck was the host in 1964. Although Innsbruck was a traditional winter sports resort, warm weather caused a lack of snow during the Games and the Austrian army was enlisted to transport snow and ice to the sports venues.[38] Soviet speed-skater Lidia Skoblikova made history by winning all four speed skating events. Her career total of six gold medals set a record for Winter Olympics athletes.[38] Luge was first contested in 1964, but the sport received bad publicity when a competitor was killed in a pre-Olympic training run.[39][40]

text: Held in the French town of Grenoble, the 1968 Winter Olympics were the first Olympic Games to be broadcast in colour. There were 1,158 athletes from 37 nations competing in 35 events.[41] French alpine ski racer Jean-Claude Killy became only the second person to win all the men's alpine skiing events. The organising committee sold television rights for US$2 million, which was more than twice the cost of the broadcast rights for the Innsbruck Games.[42] Venues were spread over long distances requiring three athletes' villages. The organisers claimed that this was necessary to accommodate technological advances, however critics disputed this, alleging that the layout would incorporate the best possible venues for television broadcasts at the athletes' expense.[42]

text: The 1972 Winter Games, held in Sapporo, Japan, were the first to be hosted on a continent other than North America or Europe. The issue of professionalism was disputed during these Games when a number of alpine skiers were found to have participated in a ski camp at Mammoth Mountain in the United States; three days before the opening ceremony, IOC president Avery Brundage threatened to bar the skiers from competing in the Games as he insisted that they were no longer amateurs having benefited financially from their status as athletes.[43] Eventually only Austrian Karl Schranz, who earned more than the other skiers, was excluded from the competition.[44] Canada did not send teams to the 1972 or 1976 ice hockey tournaments in protest at not being able to use players from professional leagues.[45] Francisco Fernández Ochoa became the first (and, as of 2018, only) Spaniard to win a Winter Olympic gold medal when he triumphed in the slalom.[46]

text: The 1976 Winter Olympics had initially been awarded in 1970 to Denver, Colorado in the United States. These Games would have coincided with the year of Colorado's centennial and the United States Bicentennial. However, in November 1972 the people of Colorado voted against public funding of the Games by a 3:2 margin.[47][48] The IOC responded by offering the Games to Vancouver-Garibaldi, British Columbia, which had previously been an official candidate for the 1976 Games. However, a change in the provincial government resulted in an administration that did not support the Olympic bid, so the IOC's offer was rejected. Salt Lake City, previously a candidate for the 1972 Winter Olympics, then put itself forward, but the IOC opted instead to invite Innsbruck to host the 1976 Games, as most of the infrastructure from the 1964 Games had been maintained. Despite only having half the usual time to prepare for the Games, Innsbruck accepted the invitation to replace Denver in February 1973.[49] Two Olympic flames were lit because it was the second time that the Austrian town had hosted the Winter Games.[49] The 1976 Games featured the first combination bobsleigh and luge track, in neighbouring Igls.[46] The Soviet Union won its fourth consecutive ice hockey gold medal.[49]

text: In 1980 the Winter Olympics returned to Lake Placid, which had hosted the 1932 Games. The first boycott of a Winter Olympics took place at these Games, when Taiwan refused to participate after an edict by the IOC mandated that they change their name and national anthem.[50] This was an attempt by the IOC to accommodate China, who wished to compete using the same name and anthem as those used by Taiwan.[50] As a result, China participated for the first time since 1952. American speed-skater Eric Heiden set either an Olympic or World record in every one of the five events in which he competed, winning a total of five individual gold medals and breaking the record for most individual golds in a single Olympics (both Summer and Winter).[51] Hanni Wenzel won both the slalom and giant slalom and her country, Liechtenstein, became the smallest nation to produce an Olympic gold medallist.[52] In the "Miracle on Ice", the American hockey team composed of college players beat the favoured seasoned professionals from the Soviet Union, and progressed to eventually win the gold medal.[53][nb 4]

text: 1984 to 1998

text: Sapporo, Japan, and Gothenburg, Sweden, were front-runners to host the 1984 Winter Olympics. It was therefore a surprise when Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, was selected as host.[56] The Games were well-organised and not affected by the run-up to the war that engulfed the country eight years later.[57] A total of 49 nations and 1,272 athletes participated in 39 events. Host nation Yugoslavia won its first Olympic medal when alpine skier Jure Franko won silver in the giant slalom. Another sporting highlight was the free dance performance of British ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean; their Boléro routine received unanimous perfect scores for artistic impression, earning them the gold medal.[57]

text: In 1988, the Canadian city of Calgary hosted the first Winter Olympics to span three weekends, lasting for a total of 16 days.[58] New events were added in ski-jumping and speed skating, while future Olympic sports curling, short track speed skating and freestyle skiing made their debut appearance as demonstration sports. The speed skating events were held indoors for the first time, on the Olympic Oval. Dutch skater Yvonne van Gennip won three gold medals and set two world records, beating skaters from the favoured East German team in every race.[59] Her medal total was equalled by Finnish ski jumper Matti Nykänen, who won all three events in his sport. Alberto Tomba, an Italian skier, made his Olympic debut by winning both the giant slalom and slalom. East German Christa Rothenburger won the women's 1,000 metre speed skating event. Seven months later she would earn a silver in track cycling at the Summer Games in Seoul, to become the only athlete to win medals in both a Summer and Winter Olympics in the same year.[58]

text: The 1992 Winter Games were the last to be held in the same year as the Summer Games.[60] They were hosted in the French Savoie region, with 18 events held in the city of Albertville and the remaining events spread out over the Savoie.[60] Political changes of the time were reflected in the composition of the Olympic teams competing in France: this was the first Games to be held after the fall of Communism and the fall of the Berlin Wall, and Germany competed as a single nation for the first time since the 1964 Games; former Yugoslavian republics Croatia and Slovenia made their debuts as independent nations; most of the former Soviet republics still competed as a single team known as the Unified Team, but the Baltic States made independent appearances for the first time since before World War II.[61] At 16 years old, Finnish ski jumper Toni Nieminen made history by becoming the youngest male Winter Olympic champion.[62] New Zealand skier Annelise Coberger became the first Winter Olympic medallist from the southern hemisphere when she won a silver medal in the women's slalom.

text: The 1994 Winter Olympics, held in Lillehammer, Norway, were the first Winter Games to be held separately from the Summer Games. This change resulted from the decision reached in the 91st IOC Session (1986) to separate the Summer and Winter Games and place them in alternating even-numbered years.[63] Lillehammer is the northernmost city to ever host the Winter Games and it was the second time the Games were held in Norway, after the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo. After the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, the Czech Republic and Slovakia made their Olympic debuts.[64] The women's figure skating competition drew media attention when American skater Nancy Kerrigan was injured on 6 January 1994, in an assault planned by the ex-husband of opponent Tonya Harding.[65] Both skaters competed in the Games, but the gold medal was controversially won by Oksana Baiul who became Ukraine's first Olympic champion, while Kerrigan won the silver medal.[66][67] Johann Olav Koss of Norway won three gold medals, coming first in all of the distance speed skating events.[68] 13-year-old Kim Yoon-Mi became the youngest-ever Olympic gold medallist when South Korea won the women's 3,000 meter speed skating relay. Russia won the most events, with eleven gold medals, while Norway achieved 26 podium finishes, collecting the most medals overall on home ground. Juan Antonio Samaranch described Lillehammer as "the best Olympic Winter Games ever" in his closing ceremony speech.[69]

text: The 1998 Winter Olympics were held in the Japanese city of Nagano and were the first Games to host more than 2,000 athletes.[70] The men's ice hockey tournament was opened to professionals for the first time. Canada and the United States were favoured to win the tournament as they both fielded numerous NHL players,[70] but surprisingly neither team won any medals and it was the Czech Republic who prevailed.[70] Women's ice hockey made its debut and the United States won the gold medal.[71] Bjørn Dæhlie of Norway won three gold medals in Nordic skiing, becoming the most decorated Winter Olympic athlete, with eight gold medals and twelve medals overall.[70][72] Austrian Hermann Maier survived a crash during the downhill competition and returned to win gold in the super-G and the giant slalom.[70] Tara Lipinski of the United States, aged just 15, became the youngest ever female gold medallist in an individual event when she won the Ladies' Singles, a record that had stood since Sonja Henie of Norway won the same event, also aged 15, in St. Moritz in 1928. New world records were set in speed skating largely due to the introduction of the clap skate.[73]

text: 21st century

text: 2002 to 2010

text: The 2002 Winter Olympics were held in Salt Lake City, United States, hosting 77 nations and 2,399 athletes in 78 events in 7 sports.[74] These Games were the first to take place since the September 11 attacks of 2001, which meant a higher degree of security to avoid a terrorist attack. The opening ceremony saw signs of the aftermath of the events of that day, including the flag that flew at Ground Zero, NYPD officer Daniel Rodríguez singing "God Bless America", and honour guards of NYPD and FDNY members.

text: German Georg Hackl won a silver in the singles luge, becoming the first athlete in Olympic history to win medals in the same individual event in five consecutive Olympics.[74] Canada achieved an unprecedented double by winning both the men's and women's ice hockey gold medals.[74] Canada became embroiled with Russia in a controversy that involved the judging of the pairs figure skating competition. The Russian pair of Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze competed against the Canadian pair of Jamie Salé and David Pelletier for the gold medal. The Canadians appeared to have skated well enough to win the competition, yet the Russians were awarded the gold. The judging broke along Cold War lines with judges from former Communist countries favouring the Russian pair and judges from Western nations voting for the Canadians. The only exception was the French judge, Marie-Reine Le Gougne, who awarded the gold to the Russians. An investigation revealed that she had been pressured to give the gold to the Russian pair regardless of how they skated; in return the Russian judge would look favourably on the French entrants in the ice dancing competition.[75] The IOC decided to award both pairs the gold medal in a second medal ceremony held later in the Games.[76] Australian Steven Bradbury became the first gold medallist from the southern hemisphere when he won the 1,000 metre short-track speed skating event.[77]

text: The Italian city of Turin hosted the 2006 Winter Olympics. It was the second time that Italy had hosted the Winter Olympic Games. South Korean athletes won 10 medals, including 6 gold in the short-track speed skating events. Sun-Yu Jin won three gold medals while her teammate Hyun-Soo Ahn won three gold medals and a bronze.[78] In the women's Cross-Country team pursuit Canadian Sara Renner broke one of her poles and, when he saw her dilemma, Norwegian coach Bjørnar Håkensmoen decided to lend her a pole. In so doing she was able to help her team win a silver medal in the event at the expense of the Norwegian team, who finished fourth.[78][79] On winning the Super-G, Kjetil-Andre Aamodt of Norway became the most decorated ski racer of all time with 4 gold and 8 overall medals. He is also the only ski racer to have won the same event at three different Olympics, winning the Super-G in 1992, 2002 and 2006. Claudia Pechstein of Germany became the first speed skater to earn nine career medals.[78] In February 2009, Pechstein tested positive for "blood manipulation" and received a two-year suspension, which she appealed. The Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld her suspension but a Swiss court ruled that she could compete for a spot on the 2010 German Olympic team.[80] This ruling was brought to the Swiss Federal Tribunal, which overturned the lower court's ruling and precluded her from competing in Vancouver.[81]

text: In 2003 the IOC awarded the 2010 Winter Olympics to Vancouver, thus allowing Canada to host its second Winter Olympics. With a population of more than 2.5 million people Vancouver is the largest metropolitan area to ever host a Winter Olympic Games.[82] Over 2,500 athletes from 82 countries participated in 86 events.[83] The death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili in a training run on the day of the opening ceremonies resulted in the Whistler Sliding Centre changing the track layout on safety grounds.[84] Norwegian cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen won five medals in the six cross-country events on the women's programme. She finished the Olympics with three golds, a silver and a bronze.[85] The Vancouver Games were notable for the poor performance of the Russian athletes. From their first Winter Olympics in 1956 to the 2006 Games, a Soviet or Russian delegation had never been outside the top five medal-winning nations, but in 2010 they finished sixth in total medals and eleventh in gold medals. President Dmitry Medvedev called for the resignation of top sports officials immediately after the Games.[86] Russia's disappointing performance at Vancouver is cited as the reason behind the implementation of a doping scheme alleged to have been in operation at major events such as the 2014 Games at Sochi.[87] The success of Asian countries stood in stark contrast to the under-performing Russian team, with Vancouver marking a high point for medals won by Asian countries. In 1992 the Asian countries had won fifteen medals, three of which were gold. In Vancouver the total number of medals won by athletes from Asia had increased to thirty-one, with eleven of them being gold. The rise of Asian nations in Winter Olympics sports is due in part to the growth of winter sports programmes and the interest in winter sports in nations such as South Korea, Japan and China.[88][89]

text: 2014 to 2018

text: Sochi, Russia, was selected as the host city for the 2014 Winter Olympics over Salzburg, Austria, and Pyeongchang, South Korea. This was the first time that Russia had hosted a Winter Olympics.[90] The Games took place from 7 to 23 February 2014.[91] A record 2,800 athletes from 88 countries competed in 98 events. The Olympic Village and Olympic Stadium were located on the Black Sea coast. All of the mountain venues were 50 kilometres (31 miles) away in the alpine region known as Krasnaya Polyana.[90] The Games were the most expensive so far, with a cost of £30 billion (USD 51 billion).

text: On the snow, Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjørndalen took two golds to bring his total tally of Olympic medals to 13, overtaking his compatriot Bjørn Dæhlie to become the most decorated Winter Olympian of all time. Another Norwegian, cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen took three golds; her total of ten Olympic medals tied her as the female Winter Olympian with most medals, alongside Raisa Smetanina and Stefania Belmondo. Snowboarder Ayumu Hirano became the youngest medallist on snow at the Winter Games when he took a silver in the halfpipe competition at the age of fifteen. On the ice, the Dutch dominated the speed skating events, taking 23 medals, four clean sweeps of the podium places and at least one medal in each of the twelve medal events. Ireen Wüst was their most successful competitor, taking two golds and three silvers. In figure skating, Yuzuru Hanyu became the first skater to break the 100-point barrier in the short programme on the way to winning the gold medal. Among the sledding disciplines, luger Armin Zöggeler took a bronze, becoming the first Winter Olympian to secure a medal in six consecutive Games.[90]

text: Following their disappointing performance at the 2010 Games, and an investment of £600 million in elite sport, Russia initially topped the medal table, taking 33 medals including thirteen golds.[92] However Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of the Russian national anti-doping laboratory, subsequently claimed that he had been involved in doping dozens of Russian competitors for the Games, and that he had been assisted by the Russian Federal Security Service in opening and re-sealing bottles containing urine samples so that samples with banned substances could be replaced with "clean" urine. A subsequent investigation commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency led by Richard McLaren concluded that a state-sponsored doping programme had operated in Russia from "at least late 2011 to 2015" across the "vast majority" of Summer and Winter Olympic sports.[93] On 5 December 2017, the IOC announced that Russia would be banned from the 2018 Winter Olympics with immediate effect[94] and by the end of 2017 the IOC Disciplinary Commission had disqualified 43 Russian athletes, stripping thirteen medals and knocking Russia from the top of the medal table, thus putting Norway in the lead.[95][96][97]

text: On 6 July 2011, Pyeongchang, South Korea, was selected to host the 2018 Winter Olympics over Munich, Germany, and Annecy, France.[98] This was the first time that South Korea had been selected to host a Winter Olympics and it was the second time the Olympics were held in the country overall, after the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. The Games took place from 9 to 25 February 2018. More than 2,900 athletes from 92 countries participated in 102 events. The Olympic Stadium and many of the sports venues were situated in the Alpensia Resort in Daegwallyeong-myeon, Pyeongchang, while a number of other sports venues were located in the Gangneung Olympic Park in Pyeongchang's neighboring city of Gangneung.

text: The lead-up to the 2018 Winter Olympics was affected by the tensions between North and South Korea and the ongoing Russian doping scandal. Despite tense relations, North Korea agreed to participate in the Games, enter with South Korea during the opening ceremony as a unified Korea, and field a unified team in women's ice hockey. Individual Russian athletes, who qualified and could demonstrate they had complied with the IOC's doping regulations, were given the option to compete neutrally in Pyeongchang as "Olympic Athletes from Russia" (OAR) but they were not allowed to compete under the Russian flag.[94]

text: The Games saw the addition of big air snowboarding, mass start speed skating, mixed doubles curling, and mixed team alpine skiing to the programme. On the ice, the Netherlands again dominated the speed skating, winning gold medals in seven of the ten individual events. Dutch speed skater Sven Kramer won gold in the men's 5000m event, becoming the only male speed skater to win the same Olympic event three times. On the snow, Norway led the medal tally in cross-country skiing, with Marit Bjørgen winning bronze in the women's team sprint and gold in the 30 kilometre classical event, bringing her total Olympic medal haul to fifteen, the most won by any athlete (male or female) in Winter Olympics history. Johannes Høsflot Klæbo became the youngest ever male to win an Olympic gold in cross-country skiing when he won the men's sprint at age 21. Noriaki Kasai of Japan became the first athlete in history to participate in eight Winter Olympics when he took part in the ski jumping qualification the day before the opening of the Games. Ester Ledecká of the Czech Republic won gold in the skiing super-G event and another gold in the snowboarding parallel giant slalom, making her the first female athlete to win Olympic gold medals in two different sports at a single Winter Games.

text: Norway led the total medal standings with 39, the highest number of medals by a nation in any Winter Olympics, followed by Germany's 31 and Canada's 29. Host nation South Korea won seventeen medals, their highest medal haul at a Winter Olympics.

text: Future

text: The host city for the 2022 Winter Olympics, is Beijing in northern China, elected on 31 July 2015, at the 128th IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur. Beijing will be the first city ever to have hosted both the Summer and Winter Olympics. The 2022 Winter Olympics will take place between 4 and 20 February 2022.

text: Controversy

text: The process for awarding host city honours came under intense scrutiny after Salt Lake City had been awarded the right to host the 2002 Games.[99] Soon after the host city had been announced it was discovered that the organisers had engaged in an elaborate bribery scheme to curry favour with IOC officials.[99] Gifts and other financial considerations were given to those who would evaluate and vote on Salt Lake City's bid. These gifts included medical treatment for relatives, a college scholarship for one member's son and a land deal in Utah. Even IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch received two rifles valued at $2,000. Samaranch defended the gift as inconsequential since, as president, he was a non-voting member.[100] The subsequent investigation uncovered inconsistencies in the bids for every Olympics (both Summer and Winter) since 1988.[101] For example, the gifts received by IOC members from the Japanese Organising Committee for Nagano's bid for the 1998 Winter Olympics were described by the investigation committee as "astronomical".[102] Although nothing strictly illegal had been done, the IOC feared that corporate sponsors would lose faith in the integrity of the process and that the Olympic brand would be tarnished to such an extent that advertisers would begin to pull their support.[103] The investigation resulted in the expulsion of 10 IOC members and the sanctioning of another 10. New terms and age limits were established for IOC membership, and 15 former Olympic athletes were added to the committee. Stricter rules for future bids were imposed, with ceilings imposed on the value of gifts IOC members could accept from bid cities.[104][105][106]

text: Host city legacy

text: According to the IOC, the host city for the Winter Olympics is responsible for "...establishing functions and services for all aspects of the Games, such as sports planning, venues, finance, technology, accommodation, catering, media services, etc., as well as operations during the Games."[107] Due to the cost of hosting the Games, most host cities never realise a profit on their investment.[108] For example, the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, cost $3.6 billion to host. By comparison, the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, cost $12.5 billion.[109] The organisers of the Nagano Games claimed that the cost of extending the bullet train service from Tokyo to Nagano was responsible for the large price tag.[109] The organising committee had hoped that the exposure gained from hosting the Winter Olympics, and the improved access to Nagano from Tokyo, would benefit the local economy for years afterwards. In actual fact, Nagano's economy did experience a post-Olympic boom for a year or two, but the long-term effects have not materialised as anticipated.[109] The likelihood of heavy debt is a deterrent to prospective host cities, as well as the prospect of unused sports venues and infrastructure saddling the local community with upkeep costs into the future with no appreciable post-Olympic value.[110]

text: The Winter Olympics has the added problem of the alpine events requiring a mountain location; the men's downhill needs an 800 meter altitude difference along a suitable course. As this is a focal event that is central to the Games, the IOC will not agree to it taking place a great distance from the main host city.[111] The requirement for a mountain location also means that venues such as hockey arenas often have to be built in sparsely populated areas with little future need for a large arena. Due to cost issues, the only candidate cities for the 2022 Winter Olympics were in dictatorship countries, and a number of European countries declined due to political doubt over costs. Both the 2006 and 2010 Games, which were hosted in countries where large cities are located close to suitable mountain regions, had lower costs since more venues and transport infrastructure already existed.

text: The IOC has enacted several initiatives to mitigate these concerns. Firstly, the commission has agreed to fund part of the host city's budget for staging the Games.[112] Secondly, the qualifying host countries are limited to those that have the resources and infrastructure to successfully host an Olympic Games without negatively impacting the region or nation; this consequently rules out a large portion of the developing world.[113] Finally, any prospective host city planning to bid for the Games is required to add a "legacy plan" to their proposal, with a view to the long-term economic and environmental impact that hosting the Olympics will have on the region.[114]

text: Doping

text: In 1967 the IOC began enacting drug testing protocols. They started by randomly testing athletes at the 1968 Winter Olympics.[115] The first Winter Games athlete to test positive for a banned substance was Alois Schloder, a West German hockey player,[116] but his team was still allowed to compete.[117] During the 1970s testing outside of competition was escalated because it was found to deter athletes from using performance-enhancing drugs.[118] The problem with testing during this time was a lack of standardisation of the test procedures, which undermined the credibility of the tests. It was not until the late 1980s that international sporting federations began to coordinate efforts to standardise the drug-testing protocols.[119] The IOC took the lead in the fight against steroids when it established the independent World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in November 1999.[120][121]

text: The 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin became notable for a scandal involving the emerging trend of blood doping, the use of blood transfusions or synthetic hormones such as Erythropoietin (EPO) to improve oxygen flow and thus reduce fatigue.[122] The Italian police conducted a raid on the Austrian cross-country ski team's residence during the Games where they seized blood-doping specimens and equipment.[123] This event followed the pre-Olympics suspension of 12 cross-country skiers who tested positive for unusually high levels of haemoglobin, which is evidence of blood doping.[122]

text: The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi's Russian Doping Scandal has resulted in the International Olympic Committee to begin disciplinary proceedings against 28 (later increased to 46) Russian athletes who competed at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, acting on evidence that their urine samples were tampered with.[124][125][126][127][128]

text: Politics

text: Cold War

text: The Winter Olympics have been an ideological front in the Cold War since the Soviet Union first participated at the 1956 Winter Games. It did not take long for the Cold War combatants to discover what a powerful propaganda tool the Olympic Games could be. The advent of the state-sponsored "full-time amateur athlete" of the Eastern Bloc countries further eroded the ideology of the pure amateur, as it put the self-financed amateurs of the Western countries at a disadvantage. The Soviet Union entered teams of athletes who were all nominally students, soldiers, or working in a profession, but many of whom were in reality paid by the state to train on a full-time basis.[33] Nevertheless, the IOC held to the traditional rules regarding amateurism until the '90s.[129]

text: The Cold War created tensions amongst countries allied to the two superpowers. The strained relationship between East and West Germany created a difficult political situation for the IOC. Because of its role in World War II, Germany was not allowed to compete at the 1948 Winter Olympics.[24] In 1950 the IOC recognised the West German Olympic Committee, and invited East and West Germany to compete as a unified team at the 1952 Winter Games.[130] East Germany declined the invitation and instead sought international legitimacy separate from West Germany.[131] In 1955 the Soviet Union recognised East Germany as a sovereign state, thereby giving more credibility to East Germany's campaign to become an independent participant at the Olympics. The IOC agreed to provisionally accept the East German National Olympic Committee with the condition that East and West Germans compete on one team.[132] The situation became tenuous when the Berlin Wall was constructed in 1962 and western nations began refusing visas to East German athletes.[133] The uneasy compromise of a unified team held until the 1968 Grenoble Games when the IOC officially split the teams and threatened to reject the host-city bids of any country that refused entry visas to East German athletes.[134]

text: Boycott

text: The Winter Games have had only one national team boycott when Taiwan decided not to participate in the 1980 Winter Olympics held in Lake Placid. Prior to the Games the IOC agreed to allow China to compete in the Olympics for the first time since 1952. China was given permission to compete as the "People's Republic of China" (PRC) and to use the PRC flag and anthem. Until 1980 the island of Taiwan had been competing under the name "Republic of China" (ROC) and had been using the ROC flag and anthem.[50] The IOC attempted to have the countries compete together but when this proved to be unacceptable the IOC demanded that Taiwan cease to call itself the "Republic of China".[135][136] The IOC renamed the island "Chinese Taipei" and demanded that it adopt a different flag and national anthem, stipulations that Taiwan would not agree to. Despite numerous appeals and court hearings the IOC's decision stood. When the Taiwanese athletes arrived at the Olympic village with their Republic of China identification cards they were not admitted. They subsequently left the Olympics in protest, just before the opening ceremonies.[50] Taiwan returned to Olympic competition at the 1984 Winter Games in Sarajevo as Chinese Taipei. The country agreed to compete under a flag bearing the emblem of their National Olympic Committee and to play the anthem of their National Olympic Committee should one of their athletes win a gold medal. The agreement remains in place to this day.[137]

text: Sports

text: The Olympic Charter limits winter sports to "those ... which are practised on snow or ice."[138] Since 1992 a number of new sports have been added to the Olympic programme; which include short track speed skating, snowboarding, freestyle and moguls skiing. The addition of these events has broadened the appeal of the Winter Olympics beyond Europe and North America. While European powers such as Norway and Germany still dominate the traditional Winter Olympic sports, countries such as South Korea, Australia and Canada are finding success in the new sports. The results are: more parity in the national medal tables; more interest in the Winter Olympics; and higher global television ratings.[139]

text: Current sports

text:
Sport
Years
Events
Medal events contested in 2014

Alpine skiing
Since 1936
11
Men's and women's downhill, super G, giant slalom, slalom, and combined, and parallel slalom.[140]

Biathlon
Since 1960Note 3
11
Sprint (men: 10 km; women: 7.5 km), the individual (men: 20 km; women: 15 km), pursuit (men: 12.5 km; women: 10 km), relay (men: 4x7.5 km; women: 4x6 km; mixed: 2x7.5 km+2x6 km), and the mass start (men: 15 km; women: 12.5 km).[141]

Bobsleigh
Since 1924 (except 1960)
3
Four-man race, two-man race and two-woman race.[142]

Cross-country skiing
Since 1924
12
Men's sprint, team sprint, 30 km pursuit, 15 km, 50 km and 4x10 km relay; women's sprint, team sprint, 15 km pursuit, 10 km, 30 km and 4x5 km relay.[143]

Curling
1924, since 1998
3
Men's, women's and mixed doubles. tournaments.[144]

Figure skating
Since 1924Note 1
5
Men's and women's singles; pairs; ice dancing and team event.[145]

Freestyle skiing
Since 1992
10
Men's and women's moguls, aerials, ski cross, superpipe, and slopestyle.[146]

Ice hockey
Since 1924Note 2
2
Men's and women's tournaments.[147]

Luge
Since 1964
4
Men's and women's singles, men's doubles, team relay.[148]

Nordic combined
Since 1924
3
Men's 10 km individual normal hill, 10 km individual large hill and team.[149]

Short track speed skating
Since 1992
8
Men's and women's 500 m, 1000 m, 1500 m; women's 3000 m relay; and men's 5000 m relay.[150]

Skeleton
1928, 1948, Since 2002
2
Men's and women's events.[151]

Ski jumping
Since 1924
4
Men's individual large hill, team large hill;[152] men's and women's individual normal hill.

Snowboarding
Since 1998
8
Men's and women's parallel, half-pipe, snowboard cross, and slopestyle.[153]

Speed skating
Since 1924
14
Men's and women's 500 m, 1000 m, 1500 m, 5000 m, mass start, team pursuit; women's 3000 m; men's 10,000 m.[154]

tag: table

text:
^ Note 1. Figure skating events were held at the 1908 and 1920 Summer Olympics.
^ Note 2. A men's ice hockey tournament was held at the 1920 Summer Olympics.
^ Note 3. The IOC's website now treats Men's Military Patrol at the 1924 Games as an event within the sport of Biathlon.[nb 2]

text: Demonstration events

text: Demonstration sports have historically provided a venue for host countries to attract publicity to locally popular sports by having a competition without granting medals. Demonstration sports were discontinued after 1992.[155] Military patrol, a precursor to the biathlon, was a medal sport in 1924 and was demonstrated in 1928, 1936 and 1948, becoming an official sport in 1960.[156] The special figures figure skating event was only contested at the 1908 Summer Olympics.[157] Bandy (Russian hockey) is a sport popular in the Nordic countries and Russia. In the latter it's considered a national sport.[158] It was demonstrated at the Oslo Games.[159] Ice stock sport, a German variant of curling, was demonstrated in 1936 in Germany and 1964 in Austria.[20] The ski ballet event, later known as ski-acro, was demonstrated in 1988 and 1992.[160] Skijöring, skiing behind dogs, was a demonstration sport in St. Moritz in 1928.[159] A sled-dog race was held at Lake Placid in 1932.[159] Speed skiing was demonstrated in Albertville at the 1992 Winter Olympics.[161] Winter pentathlon, a variant of the modern pentathlon, was included as a demonstration event at the 1948 Games in Switzerland. It included cross-country skiing, shooting, downhill skiing, fencing and horse riding.[141]

text: Ten most successful nations

text: The table below uses official data provided by the IOC.

text:
No.
Nation
Games
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Total

1
 Norway (NOR)
23
132
125
111
368

2
 United States (USA)
23
105
110
90
305

3
 Germany (GER)
12
92
86
60
238

4
 Austria (AUT)
23
64
81
87
232

5
 Canada (CAN)
23
73
64
62
199

6
 Soviet Union (URS)
9
78
57
59
194

7
 Finland (FIN)
23
43
63
61
167

8
 Sweden (SWE)
23
57
46
55
158

9
 Switzerland (SUI)
23
55
46
52
153

10
 Netherlands (NED)
21
45
44
41
130

text: List of Winter Olympic Games

text:
Games
Year
Host
Dates
Nations
Competitors
Sports
Disci-
plines
Events
Top Nation
Ref

Total
Men
Women

I
1924
 Chamonix, France
25 January – 5 February
16
258
247
11
6
9
16
 Norway (NOR)
[2]

II
1928
 St. Moritz, Switzerland
11–19 February
25
464
438
26
4
8
14
 Norway (NOR)
[3]

III
1932
 Lake Placid, United States
 4–15 February
17
252
231
21
4
7
14
 United States (USA)
[4]

IV
1936
 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
 6–16 February
28
646
566
80
4
8
17
 Norway (NOR)
[5]

1940
Awarded to Sapporo, Japan; cancelled due to World War II

1944
Awarded to Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy; cancelled due to World War II

V
1948
 St. Moritz, Switzerland
30 January – 8 February
28
669
592
77
4
9
22
 Norway (NOR)
 Sweden (SWE)
[6]

VI
1952
 Oslo, Norway
14–25 February
30
694
585
109
4
8
22
 Norway (NOR)
[7]

VII
1956
 Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
26 January – 5 February
32
821
687
134
4
8
24
 Soviet Union (URS)
[8]

VIII
1960
 Squaw Valley, United States
18–28 February
30
665
521
144
4
8
27
 Soviet Union (URS)
[9]

IX
1964
 Innsbruck, Austria
29 January – 9 February
36
1091
892
199
6
10
34
 Soviet Union (URS)
[10]

X
1968
 Grenoble, France
 6–18 February
37
1158
947
211
6
10
35
 Norway (NOR)
[11]

XI
1972
 Sapporo, Japan
 3–13 February
35
1006
801
205
6
10
35
 Soviet Union (URS)
[12]

XII
1976
 Innsbruck, Austria
 4–15 February
37
1123
892
231
6
10
37
 Soviet Union (URS)
[13]

XIII
1980
 Lake Placid, United States
13–24 February
37
1072
840
232
6
10
38
 Soviet Union (URS)
[14]

XIV
1984
 Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
 8–19 February
49
1272
998
274
6
10
39
 East Germany (GDR)
[15]

XV
1988
 Calgary, Canada
13–28 February
57
1423
1122
301
6
10
46
 Soviet Union (URS)
[16]

XVI
1992
 Albertville, France
 8–23 February
64
1801
1313
488
6
12
57
 Germany (GER)
[17]

XVII
1994
 Lillehammer, Norway
12–27 February
67
1737
1215
522
6
12
61
 Russia (RUS)
[18]

XVIII
1998
 Nagano, Japan
 7–22 February
72
2176
1389
787
7
14
68
 Germany (GER)
[19]

XIX
2002
 Salt Lake City, United States
 8–24 February
78[162]
2399
1513
886
7
15
78
 Norway (NOR)
[20]

XX
2006
 Turin, Italy
10–26 February
80
2508
1548
960
7
15
84
 Germany (GER)
[21]

XXI
2010
 Vancouver, Canada
12–28 February
82
2566
1522
1044
7
15
86
 Canada (CAN)
[22]

XXII
2014
 Sochi, Russia
7–23 February
88
2873
1714
1159
7
15
98
 Russia (RUS)
[23]

XXIII
2018
 Pyeongchang, South Korea
9–25 February
92
2922
1680
1242
7
15
102
 Norway (NOR)
[24]

XXIV
2022
 Beijing, China
4–20 February
Future event
[25]

text: Unlike the Summer Olympics, the cancelled 1940 Winter Olympics and 1944 Winter Olympics are not included in the official Roman numeral counts for the Winter Games. While the official titles of the Summer Games count Olympiads, the titles of the Winter Games only count the Games themselves.