document_title: Winter Olympic Games

question_text: where was the last winter olympic games held

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]

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]

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.


document_title: Seat belt legislation

question_text: when did it become law to wear seat belts in the uk

root

text: Seat belt legislation

text: National comparisons[edit]

text: Australia[edit]

text: In Australia, after the introduction of mandatory front outboard mounting points in 1964, the use of seat belts by all vehicle passengers was made compulsory in the states of Victoria and South Australia in 1970 and 1971, respectively.[1] By 1973, the use of fitted seat belts by vehicle occupants was made compulsory for the rest of Australia and some other countries during the 1970s and 1980s. The subsequent dramatic decline in road deaths is generally because of seat belt laws and subsequent road safety campaigns.[2][3][4] Seat belts are not required for bus occupants, reversing drivers, and those driving some slow moving vehicles. The laws for these differ depending on the state or territory with jurisdiction.

tag: p

text: Canada[edit]

text: All provinces in Canada have primary enforcement seat belt laws. In 1976, Ontario was the first province to pass a law which required vehicle occupants to wear seat belts.[5]

text: United Kingdom[edit]

text: In the United Kingdom, seat belts must be worn at all times if they are fitted to a vehicle unless reversing. Passengers may be exempt from wearing a seat belt for different reasons. Since September 18, 2006, children travelling in the UK must also use an appropriate child seat in addition to the standard seat belt, unless they are 12 years old and/or have reached at least 135 centimetres (53 in) in height.[6]

text: In the UK, a requirement for anchorage points was introduced in 1965, followed by the requirement in 1968 to fit three-point belts in the front outboard positions on all new cars and all existing cars back to 1965.[citation needed] Successive UK Governments proposed, but failed to deliver, seat belt legislation throughout the 1970s. Front seat belts were compulsory equipment on all new cars registered in the UK from 1972, although it did not become compulsory for them to be worn until 1983. Rear seat belts were compulsory equipment from 1986 and became compulsory for them to be worn in 1991. However, it has never been a legal requirement for cars registered before those dates to be fitted with seat belts.[7] In one such attempt in 1979 similar claims for potential lives and injuries saved were advanced. William Rodgers, then Secretary of State for Transport in the Callaghan Labour Government (1976–1979), stated: "On the best available evidence of accidents in this country - evidence which has not been seriously contested - compulsion could save up to 1000 lives and 10,000 injuries a year."[8]

text: United States[edit]

text: In the United States, seat belt legislation varies by state. The state of Wisconsin introduced legislation in 1961 requiring seat belts to be fitted to the front outboard seat positions of cars.[9] Seat belts have been mandatory equipment since the 1968 model year per Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208.

text: New York State passed the first law in the US mandating the use of seat belts in 1984 under the leadership of John D. States, an orthopedic surgeon who dedicated his career to improving automotive safety.[10] Depending on which state a driver is in, not wearing a seat belt in the front seat is either a primary offense or a secondary offense, with the exception of New Hampshire, which does not have a law requiring people over age 18 to wear a seat belt. In the front seat, the driver and each passenger must wear a seat belt, one person per belt. In some states, such as New York, New Hampshire, and Michigan, belts in the rear seats are not mandatory for people over the age of 16, though it is extremely advised. The driver and front-seat passengers aged 16 or older can be fined up to $50 each for failure to buckle up. In California, you must be 15 years or older to accompany the driver in the front seat. Children 14 and younger must sit in the rear seat until they reach the age of 15.Template:DMV.org

text: A primary offense means that a police officer can pull a driver over for the seat belt law violation alone, and secondary offense indicates that one can be punished for a seat belt law violation only if they are already pulled over for another reason. By January 2007 25 states and the District of Columbia had primary seat belt laws, 24 had secondary seat belt laws, and New Hampshire had no laws.[11] In 2009, Public Health Law Research published several evidence briefs summarizing the research assessing the effect of a specific law or policy on public health. One stated, "Safety belt laws work, but there is strong evidence to support that primary enforcement safety belt laws are more effective than secondary enforcement laws in increasing seat belt use and reducing crash injuries."[12]

text: Another found that "there is strong evidence that enhanced seat belt enforcement interventions can substantially increase seat belt use and its associated benefits."[13]

text: Developing countries[edit]

text: In many developing countries, pedestrians, cyclists, rickshaw operators and moped users represent the majority of road users.

text: In India, all cars manufactured after March 25, 1994 are equipped with front seat belts. The rule was extended for rear seats in 2002. The usage of seat belts is to be implemented by the respective states, with most states making seat belt usage for front seat passengers mandatory in 2002. Older vehicles that did not originally have seat belts were exempted. However, enforcement is weak in most parts of the country.

text: In Indonesia, belts are only mandatory for front seats. Many low entry car models are not equipped with rear seat belts.[14]

text: In Malaysia, the first stage of safety belt laws was implemented in 1979. This was expanded in January 2009 to include rear passengers. Passenger vehicles registered prior to January 1, 1995, and those weighing more than 3.5 tons are exempted from this rule. The third and fourth stages, which will deal with baby and child seats and the number of passengers in a vehicle, have not taken effect.[15]

text: In the Philippines, a seat belt law, Republic Act No. 8750, was approved in August 5, 1999. The law took effect in 2000 and requires all public and private vehicles, except motorcycles and tricycles, to have their front seats equipped with seat belts. Front seats as defined by the law includes the first row of seats behind the driver for public utility buses. Those below the age of six are prohibited to occupy the front seats of motor vehicles even if wearing a seat belt. Jeepneys are only required lap belts for the front seat passengers and the driver.[16][17]

text: The table below gives an overview of when seat belt legislation was first introduced in different countries. It includes both regional and national legislation.

text:
Country
Compulsory wearing
Compulsory fitting
Source

Cars
Bus passengers
Cars
Buses

Driver
Front passengers
Rear passengers

 Argentina
1994

1994
1994 (First row only, all in school buses)
[18]

 Australia
1970 (Victoria) 1971 (NSW) 1972 (national) 1986 (child restraints)

1969, 1970 (back seat, Victoria) 1971 (back seat)
1983 (≤3.5 tonnes)
[19][20]

 Canada
1976

 Czech Republic
1966 (outside cities)
1990 (all)
1976
1990
2004
1968

[21]

 European Union
1993

[22]

 Finland
1975
1982
1987
2006

 France
1973 (outside cities), 1975 (cities at night), 1979 (all)
1990
2003
1967, 1978 (back seat)
2003
[22]
[23]

 Germany
1976
1984
1999
1970, 1979 (back seat)
1999
Angurtpflicht

 Hungary
1976

1993

[19]

 Hong Kong
1983
1983
1996
2004 (minibuses)
1996 (back seat)
2004 (minibuses)

[24]

 India

1994 (front seats), 2002 (rear seats)

 Ireland
1979

1992

1971 (front seats), 1992 (rear seats)

[25]

 Italy
1989
1990 (where available)‡
2006‡
1988 (new vehicles); 1989 (all*, front seats); 1990 (new vehicles, back seats); 2000 (all*, back seats)
2006
[26]

 Japan
1971† (1985)
1971 (no fines), 1985 (fines on freeway), 1993 (all)
2008
2008
1969

[22]

 Myanmar
2017
2017
2017
2016 (motorway buses enforced)

 Netherlands
1976
1992

1975 (front) 1990 (rear)

 New Zealand
1972
1972 (15 years and over), 1979 (8 years and over)
1989♣

1972 (vehicles registered after 1965), 1975 (after 1955)

[27]

 Philippines
2000 (those below 6 years prohibited to occupy front seats)

2000 (first row beside the driver's seat only)
2000
[28]

 Singapore
1973
1973
1993
2008 (small buses)
1973

 Spain
1975

 Sri Lanka
2011
2011

 Sweden
1975
1986
1969 (front) 1970 (rear)
2004
[22][29]

 Thailand
1996
2009

 United Kingdom
1983
1991
2006
1967 (front) 1987 (rear)

[30]

 United States
1984 (New York; seat belt use law is jurisdiction of individual states)

Wisconsin, 1961. Federally, front lap 1965 model year; front shoulder & rear lap 1968; 3-point front 1974

[22]

tag: table

text:
* - actually only vehicles registered after 15 June 1976; in previous registered vehicles fitting is optional
† - required by the law, but no penalty for violation at the time
‡ - required by the law, but low enforcement
♣ - definitely introduced by this date, possibly earlier

text: Effects[edit]

text: Studies by road safety authorities conclude that seat belt legislation has reduced the number of casualties in road accidents.

text: Experiments using both crash test dummies and human cadavers also indicated that wearing seat belts should lead to reduced risk of death and injury in car crashes.

text: Studies of accident outcomes suggest that fatality rates among car occupants are reduced by between 30 and 50 percent if seat belts are worn. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that death risks for a driver wearing a lap-shoulder seat belt are reduced by 48 percent. The same study indicated that in 2007, an estimated 15,147 lives were saved by seat belts in the United States and that if seat belt use were increased to 100 percent, an additional 5024 lives would have been saved.[31]

text: An earlier statistical analysis by the NHTSA claimed that seat belts save over 10,000 lives every year in the US.[32]

text: According to a more recent fact sheet produced by the NHTSA:

text: By 2009, despite large increases in population and the number of vehicles, road deaths in Victoria had fallen below 300, less than a third of the 1970 level, the lowest since records were kept, and far below the per capita rate in jurisdictions such as the United States. This reduction was generally attributed to aggressive road safety campaigns beginning with the seat belt laws.[34][35]

text: A 2008 study in the Journal of Health Economics found that mandatory seat belt laws in the U.S. "significantly increased seatbelt use among high school age youths by 45-80%" and "significantly reduced traffic fatalities and serious injuries resulting from fatal crashes by 8 and 9%, respectively."[36] The authors note that these "results suggest that if all states had primary enforcement seatbelt laws then regular youth seatbelt use would be nearly universal and youth fatalities would fall by about 120 per year."[36]

text: Opposition[edit]

text: A number of groups and individuals are opposed to seat belt legislation. The most common grounds for opposition are:

text:
The view that laws requiring the wearing of seat belts are an infringement of individual liberty.
Claims that official estimates of the number of lives saved by seat belts are overstated or fail to take into account additional risks for other road users.

tag: ul

text: Risk compensation and other theories[edit]

text: The most common basis for disputing estimates of the benefits of seat belts is risk compensation and risk homeostasis, advanced by researchers John Adams and Gerald Wilde. The idea of this theory is that, if the risk of death or injury from a car crash is reduced by the wearing of seat belts, drivers will respond by reducing the precautions they take against crashes.

text: Along with many others[who?], Adams accepts the hypothesis that wearing seat belts improves a vehicle occupant’s chances of surviving a crash.[37]

text: In order to explain the disparity between the agreed improvement in crash survival and the observed results, Adams and Wilde argue that protecting someone from the consequences of risky behaviour may tend to encourage greater risk taking. Wilde states, "to compel a person to use protection from the consequences of hazardous driving, as seat belt laws do, is to encourage hazardous driving. A fine for non-compliance will encourage seat belt use, but the fact that the law fails to increase people's desire to be safe encourages compensatory behaviour." [38]

text: Studies and experiments have been carried out to examine the risk compensation theory. In one experiment subjects were asked to drive go-karts around a track under various conditions. It was found that subjects who started driving belted did not drive any slower when subsequently unbelted, but those who started driving unbelted did drive consistently faster when subsequently belted.[39] A study of habitual non-seat belt wearers driving in freeway conditions found evidence that they had adapted to seat belt use by adopting higher driving speeds and closer following distances.[40] In another study, taxi drivers who were habitual non-wearers were timed over a route with passengers who did, and others who did not, insist on the driver wearing a belt. They completed the route faster when belted.[41]

text: In addition to risk compensation, Adams has suggested other mechanisms that may lead to inaccurate or unsupportable predictions of positive benefits from seat belt legislation.

text:
Case-control studies based on voluntary use of safety aids can attribute to the aid benefits that actually come from the risk-averse nature of those likely to use them voluntarily (confounding), particularly early adopters.
Fatality rates are subject to considerable stochastic noise, and comparison of single years or short periods can be misleading.

text: Individual liberty[edit]

text: Opponents have objected to the laws on libertarian principles.[42] Some do so on the grounds that seat belt laws infringe on their civil liberties. They argue[where?] that not wearing seat belts is a victimless crime as the only person harmed is the one making that decision for himself about his own life.

text: The counterpoint to the libertarian view toward seat belt laws is that mandatory usage may reduce injuries and deaths (while possibly increasing the number of accidents) but also reduces the economic cost to society.[citation needed] Another notable scenario is of rear-seated passengers being forced forward in a crash and thus inadvertently harming the driver or front passenger. A University of Wisconsin study demonstrated that car accident victims who had not worn seat belts cost the hospital (and the state, in the case of the uninsured) on average 25% more.[43]

text: Side-effects of seat belts[edit]

text: Neck injuries can be caused by the deceleration from a high speed. The passengers head continues to move forward while the body is restrained, potentially causing paralyzing injuries. A study of such injuries notes, "Seatbelts save lives. However, they may cause injury to adjacent structures and when they malfunction can cause injury to the abdominal viscera, bony skeleton and vascular structures. The motor industry has attempted to reduce these injuries by modification of vehicle design and safety equipment."[44]


document_title: Silver Birch (horse)

question_text: when did silver birch win the grand national

text: Silver Birch (horse)

text:
Silver Birch

Sire
Clearly Bust

Grandsire
Busted

Dam
All Gone

Damsire
Giolla Mear

Sex
Gelding

Foaled
1997

Country
Ireland

Colour
Bay

Breeder
Joe Power and Mrs Mel Power

Owner
Brian Walsh

Trainer
Paul Nicholls
Gordon Elliott

Record
29: 7-5-2

Earnings
₤545,780

Major wins

Becher Chase (2004)
Welsh National (2004)
Grand National (2007)

Last updated on 16 April 2007

text: Silver Birch (born 10 April 1997) is an Irish-trained thoroughbred racehorse. He was owned through the first part of his career by Paul Barber and Des Nichols, then from 2006 by Brian Walsh[1] from County Kildare, Ireland,[2] a farmer and stud owner.[1] Ridden by Robbie Power and trained by 29-year-old Gordon Elliott,[3] Silver Birch was the winner of the 2007 John Smith's Grand National at Aintree Racecourse, run on Saturday 14 April 2007.[4] He was Walsh and Elliott's first runner in the race.[5]

text: Racing career[edit]

text: Silver Birch had previously won the Becher Chase at Aintree and the Welsh National in 2004 trained by Paul Nicholls, ridden by Ruby Walsh, for owners Des Nichols and Paul Barber who had seen him as a potential Grand National horse from his early hurdling days.[6] He had been an early favourite in the betting coming into the 2005 Grand National under the champion trainer (Paul Nicholls), but a leg injury ruled him out from the race.[7]

text: He competed in the 2006 race but was hampered and fell at the Chair, the largest fence on the course. His starting price that day, in dramatic contrast to the enthusiasm he'd engendered the previous year, had been 40-1.[8] He was subsequently sold at Doncaster Sales.

text: In 2007 Silver Birch came second in the cross-country race at the Cheltenham Festival.[9] Gordon Elliott had originally wanted Jason Maguire to ride him but he picked Idle Talk instead. That allowed Robbie Power to take the ride. Silver Birch won the 2007 Grand National by 3/4 of a length from McKelvey.

text: Silver Birch also participated in 2009 Grand National, once again under Robbie Power, but fell at Becher's Brook on the second circuit. He then competed in cross-country chases for another season before being retired in 2010.


document_title: List of Major League Baseball record holders

question_text: record for most strikeouts in a season batter

text: Batting records (1876–present)[edit]

text: Career[edit]

text:
Record
Player
#
Refs

Highest batting average
Ty Cobb
.3664

Most singles
Pete Rose
3,215
[1]

Most doubles
Tris Speaker
792
[2]

Most triples
Sam Crawford
309
[3]

Most home runs
Barry Bonds
762
[4]

Most grand slams
Alex Rodriguez
25

Most home runs by a pitcher
Wes Ferrell
38

Most grand slams by a pitcher
Madison Bumgarner
3

Oldest player to hit first home run
Bartolo Colón
7004156890000000000♠42 years, 349 days old
[5]

Youngest player to hit a home run
Tommy Brown
7003646700000000000♠17 years, 257 days old
[6]

Most runs batted in
Hank Aaron
2,297
[7]

Most hits
Pete Rose
4,256
[8]

Most runs scored
Rickey Henderson
2,295
[9]

Highest on-base percentage
Ted Williams
.482
[10]

Most stolen bases
Rickey Henderson
1,406
[11]

Most steals of home
Ty Cobb
54

Highest slugging percentage
Babe Ruth
.690
[12]

Highest OPS
Babe Ruth
1.164
[13]

Most walks
Barry Bonds
2,558
[14]

Most intentional walks
Barry Bonds
688
[15]

Most strikeouts
Reggie Jackson
2,597
[16]

Most at-bats
Pete Rose
14,555
[17]

Most total bases
Hank Aaron
6,856
[18]

Most runs created
Barry Bonds
2,892
[19]

Most games played
Pete Rose
3,562
[20]

text: Single-Season[edit]

text:
Records
Player
#
Season
Refs

Games
Maury Wills
165
1962

Highest batting average
Hugh Duffy
.440
1894
[21]

Most singles in a season
Ichiro Suzuki
225
2004
[22]

Most doubles
Earl Webb
67
1931
[23]

Most triples
Chief Wilson
36
1912
[24]

Most home runs
Barry Bonds
73
2001

Most runs batted in
Hack Wilson
191
1930
[25]

Most hits
Ichiro Suzuki
262
2004
[26]

Most runs scored
Billy Hamilton
192
1894
[27]

Highest on-base percentage
Barry Bonds
.609
2004
[28]

Most stolen bases[a]
Hugh Nicol
Rickey Henderson
138
130
1887
1982
[29]

Highest slugging percentage
Barry Bonds
.863
2001
[30]

Highest OPS
Barry Bonds
1.422
2004
[31]

Most walks
Barry Bonds
232
2004
[32]

Most strikeouts
Mark Reynolds
223
2009

Most extra base hits
Babe Ruth
119
1921
[33]

Fastest pitch thrown
Nolan Ryan
108.5 mph
1974

Most total bases
Babe Ruth
457
1921
[34]

Consecutive game hitting streak
Joe DiMaggio
56
1941

Most at-bats
Jimmy Rollins
716
2007
[35]

text: Pitching records (1876–present)[edit]

text: Career[edit]

text:
Record
Player
#

Most wins
Cy Young
511

Most losses
Cy Young
316

Lowest E.R.A.
Ed Walsh
1.82

Most no-hitters
Nolan Ryan
7

Most strikeouts
Nolan Ryan
5,714

Most shutouts
Walter Johnson
110

Most pickoffs
Steve Carlton
144

Most innings pitched
Cy Young
7,354⅔

Most hit batsmen
Gus Weyhing
278

Most home runs allowed
Jamie Moyer
522

Most complete games
Cy Young
749

Lowest WHIP
Addie Joss
.968

Most saves
Mariano Rivera
652

Highest win–loss percentage
Spud Chandler
71.7%

Most games
Jesse Orosco
1,252

Most consecutive scoreless innings pitched
Orel Hershiser
59[b]

text: Live-ball era (1920–present)[edit]

text: (if different from overall records)

text:
Record
Player
#

Most wins
Warren Spahn
363

Most losses
Nolan Ryan
292

Lowest earned-run average
Mariano Rivera
2.21

Most shutouts
Warren Spahn
63

Most innings pitched
Phil Niekro
5,404⅓

Most complete games
Warren Spahn
382

Lowest WHIP
Mariano Rivera
1.004

text: Single season[edit]

text:
Record
Player
#
Season

Most wins
Old Hoss Radbourn
60
1884

Most losses
John Coleman
48
1883

Lowest E.R.A.
Tim Keefe
0.86
1880

Most strikeouts
Matt Kilroy
513
1886

Most shutouts
George Bradley
Pete Alexander
16
1876
1916

Most innings pitched
Will White
680
1879

Most complete games
Will White
75
1879

Lowest WHIP
Pedro Martínez
.7373
2000

Most saves
Francisco Rodríguez
62
2008

Highest win/loss percentage
Roy Face
94.7%
1959

Most hits allowed
John Coleman
772
1883

Most earned runs allowed
John Coleman
291
1883

text: Live-ball era (1920–present)[edit]

text: (if different from all-time records)

text:
Record
Player
#
Season

Most wins
Jim Bagby, Sr.
Lefty Grove
Denny McLain
31
1920
1931
1968

Most losses
Paul Derringer
27
1933

Most strikeouts
Nolan Ryan
383
1973

Most shutouts
Bob Gibson
13
1968

Most innings pitched
Mickey Lolich
376
1971

Most complete games
Bob Feller
36
1946

Most hits allowed
George Uhle
378
1923

Most earned runs allowed
Bobo Newsom
186
1938

text: Hitting records: single game (1876–present)[edit]

text:
Most hits in a nine-inning game: 7 by Wilbert Robinson, June 10, 1892, and Rennie Stennett, September 16, 1975.
Most hits in an extra-inning game: 9, Johnny Burnett, July 10, 1932.[36]
Most total bases in a nine-inning game: 19 (4 home runs, a double and a single), Shawn Green, May 23, 2002.

text: Pitching records: single game (1876–present)[edit]

text:
Most home runs allowed: 7, Charlie Sweeney, June 12, 1886
Most strikeouts: 21, Tom Cheney, September 12, 1962 (16 innings)
Most strikeouts in a nine-inning game: 20 by Kerry Wood, Roger Clemens (twice), and Max Scherzer [c]
Most consecutive home runs allowed: 4 by Paul Foytack, July 31, 1963, Chase Wright, April 22, 2007, and Dave Bush, August 11, 2010
Oldest pitcher to win a game: Jamie Moyer, age 7004180480000000000♠49 years, 151 days, May 16, 2012

text: Catcher records: career[edit]

text:
Most runners caught stealing: 810, Gary Carter[38]
Most stolen bases allowed: 1,498, Gary Carter[39]
Most stolen-base attempts: 2,308, Gary Carter
Highest caught-stealing %: 57.40%, Roy Campanella[40]
Most pickoffs: 81, Iván Rodríguez[41]
Most games caught: 2,427, Iván Rodríguez

text: Most caught no hitters: 4, Jason Varitek, May 19, 2008 and Carlos Ruiz, July 25, 2015.

text: Note: Pre-1950 stolen-base data is incomplete; career leaders shown from 1950 to present.

text: Catcher records: single season[edit]

text:
Most runners caught stealing: Jody Davis, 89 (1986)[43]
Most stolen bases allowed: Mike Piazza, 155 (1996)[44]
Highest caught-stealing %: Mike LaValliere, 72.73% (1993)[45]
Most no-hitters caught: 2, Carlos Ruiz (2010) (List of Major League Baseball no-hitters)

text: Both of Ruiz's no-hitters were by Roy Halladay; the second was in Game 1 of the National League Division Series, Halladay's first career postseason start.

text: In 1914, Yankees catcher Les Nunamaker threw out three runners in the same inning.[46]

text: Other records[edit]

text:
Most World Series wins (as a manager): 7, Casey Stengel, Joe McCarthy
Most pennants won: 10, Casey Stengel, John McGraw
Most World Series appearances (as a manager): 10, Casey Stengel
Most World Series appearances (as a team): 40, New York Yankees
Most World Series titles (as a team): 27, New York Yankees
Most regular season wins (as a team): 116, Seattle Mariners, Chicago Cubs
Most MVP Awards won: 7, Barry Bonds
Most Grand Slams By a Pitcher in One Season: Tony Cloninger, Madison Bumgarner, 2
Most Consecutive Games Played: 2,632, Cal Ripken, Jr.