WINTER OLYMPICS

From 1976 to 2026

My first memory of the Winter Olympics was 50 years ago in 1976, this is a look back at the past 50 years as the Winter Olympics has expanded along with Team GB success.

Innsbruck 1976

GB won Men’s Singles Figure Skating Gold, won by John Curry, but my main memory was the downhill skiing won by Franz Klammer

1123 athletes from 37 countries

Lake Placid 1980

GB retained the Men’s Singles Figure Skating Gold , this time won by Robin Cousins.

The highlight of the games was USA mainly collegiate athletes winning the Mens Ice Hockey Gold beating the Russian professionals in the final 4-3, ending the Russian domination having won the previous four editions.

American speed skater broke the Olympic record of most individual Gold medals winning all five men’s speed skating events.

1072 athletes from 37 countries

Sarajevo 1984

GB won Gold in Ice Dancing with the pair of Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean at the peak of their careers, with their performance of Balero receiving unanimous perfect scores.

1272 athletes from 49 countires

Calgary 1988

No medals for Team GB in a games where high winds caused major disruption to the outdoor events.

Italy’s Alberto Tomba won two Skiing Gold Medals in the first of his three Olympics.

The games are remembered for the movies Cool Runnings about the Jamaican Bobsleigh team and Eddie the Eagle about British Ski jumper Michael Edwards nicknamed “Eddie” who finished last with a jump of 73.5m

1423 athletes from 57 countries

Albertville 1992

No medals for Team GB and the final time both Winter and Summer Games held in the same year.

Finnish ski jumper Toni Nieminen became the youngest male Olympic champion while New Zealand skier Annelise Coberger became the first Winter Olympic medalist from the Southern Hemisphere.

1801 athletes from 64 countries

Lillehammer 1994

A one off two year gap from the previous Winter Olympics to ensure a Winter or Summer Games each two years going forward.

GB won Bronze medals through Torvill & Dean in Ice Dancing and Nicky Gooch in Short Track Speed Skating.

American skater Nancy Kerrigan was injured on 6th January 1994 in an attack planned by the ex-husband of rival Tonya Harding. Ukraine’s Oksana Baiul won Gold with Kerrigan picking up Silver and Harding out of the medals.

1737 athletes from 67 countries

Nagano 1998

The Final Olympic Games of the 20th century.

GB won Bronze in Four Man Bobsleigh , team of Sean Olsson, Dean Ward, Courtney Rumbolt and Paul Attwood.

United States won Gold in Ice Hockey as the National Hockey League allowed their player to participate for teh first time

2176 athletes from 72 countries

Salt Lake City 2002

GB had a major success winning Gold in Ladies Curling event with the team of Rhona Martin , Debbie Knox , Fiona McDonald , Janice Rankin and Margaret Morton , trailblazing for future GB Curling success

Alex Coomber won Bronze in Women’s Skeleton.

There was major controversy when Alain Baxter finished third for GB in Men’s Slalom Skiing but was disqualified for a failed drugs test due to an over the counter nasal spray having been taken.

2399 athletes from 77 countries

Torino 2006

GB only medal at 2006 Winter Olympics was a Silver medal in Women’s Skeleton by Shelley Rudman

2508 athletes from 80 countries

Vancouver 2010

Women’s Skeleton produced another GB medal in 2010 when Shelley Rudman’s Silver in 2006 , was eclipsed by Amy Williams winning Gold.

Women’s Curling team were skipped by 19yo Eve Muirhead and finished in a dissappointing 7th place

2566 athletes from 82 countries

Sochi 2014

The Winter Olympics of 2014 brought unparalleled success for Team GB with the team coming home with 5 medals.

Women’s Skeleton again produced a Gold Medal as Lizzy Yarnold retained the Gold medal won by Amy Williams.

The Men’s Curling team skipped by David Murdoch, with Greg Drummond, Scott Andrews, Michael Goodfellow & Tom Brewster claimed a Silver Medal after a thrilling 6-5 semi final win over Sweden before losing the final to Canada 9-3.

The Women’s Curling team skipped by Eve Muirhead, with Anna Sloan , Vicki Adams, Claire Hamilton and Lauren Gray lost the semi final to Canada before beating Switzerland 6-5 to claim the Bronze Medal.

Jenny Jones won a Bronze medal in the Women’s Snowboarding slopestyle.

The Men’s Fourman Bobsleigh team of John Jackson , Bruce Tasker, Stewart Benson & Joel Fearon were awarded the Bronze medal after finishing 5th , when two Russian teams who finished 1st and 4th were disqualified as part of a doping scandal across the Russian team.

2873 athletes from 88 countries

Pyeongchang 2018

Team GB again claimed 5 medals.

Lizzy Yarnold again claimed Gold in Women’s Skeleton with Laura Deas winning Bronze in the same event.

Dominic Parsons won a Bronze in the Men’s Skeleton.

There were further Bronze medals for Izzy Atkin in the Women’s Freestyle Skiing – Slopestyle and Billy Morgan in Men’s Snowboarding – Big Air

In Curling the men’s team were eliminated in a tie breaker 9-5 by Switzerland for a semi final place.

Eve Muirhead in her third Olympics was heartbroken as her team lost the semi final to Sweden 10-5 and then the Bronze Medal match 5-3 to Japan.

2833 athletes from 92 countries

Beijing 2022

Eve Muirhead and her team with Jennifer Dodds , Hailey Duff , Milli Smith and Vicky Wright won GB only Gold Medal.

The team failed to qualify automatically as they had done in the previous Olympics and had to qualify through the 2021 Olympic Qualification Event with an 8th place World ranking , they won the event ahead of higher ranked South Korea and Japan.

GB finished the Round Robin with a 5-4 record level with Japan and Canada but behind Switzerland 8-1 and Sweden 7-2.

GB qualified for the semi final and beat Sweden in a amazing game 12-11 after an extra end.

GB completed their Gold Medal success beating Japan in 9 ends by 10-3.

The Mens’s Curling team of Bruce Mowat , Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie, Hammy McMillan and Ross Whyte also had a successful games and were unlucky to only lift the Silver Medal.

They had a superb Round Robin record of 8-1 only losing to USA

GB then beat USA 8-4 in the Semi Final however they were beaten to the Gold Medal in the Final 5-4 by Sweden.

2834 athletes from 91 countries

Summary

The Games have increased over the year in size in terms of Athlete numbers and countries competing until the plateau , with GB success with lottery funding from the odd medal in the 1970s to multiple success particularly in Curling in recent games. It will be interesting to see how 2026 in Italy compares with the talismanic Eve Muirhead retiring from competitive Curling and the the Team GB Chef de Mission.