Olympic Games are comprised of the Games of the Olympiad (Summer Games) and the Olympic Winter Games. The Games take place every four years.
Until 1992 the Winter and Summer Games have taken place in the same year. Following an International Olympic Committee (IOC) decision to shift the timing of the Olympic Winter Games, however, the winter celebration has, since 1994, been held approximately two years after the Games of the Olympiad. The Olympic Winter Games include only those sports played on snow or ice.
It was not always the case that the modern Olympic Games were comprised of both Summer and Winter Games. Instead, in the early years, figure events were included on the programme of the Olympiad in 1920 in Antwerp and ice hockey was included in 1920. Additionally, the idea of the inclusion of winter sports for 1912 had also been proposed but then rejected due to Scandinavian opposition and a winter sports week had originally been planned as part of the 1916 Olympic Games before the Games were cancelled due to World War II.
For 1924, the Organizing Committee of the Games of the VIII Olympiad made plans to also host a separate celebration of winter sports events. Thus, having received the patronage of the IOC, a "Winter Sports Week" was held in the French resort of Chamonix from January 25th to February 5th, 1924.
In 1925, the IOC decided to establish a separate and distinctive cycle of Olympic Winter Games that would be independent from Summer Olympic Games of the Olympiad. One year after that, at the IOC Session, in 1926, the decision was made to retroactively recognize the winter events that had taken place in Chamonix as the edition of the Olympic Winter Games.
The XXI Olympic Winter Games will take part in Vancouver, Canada in 2010. It will be the third time that the Olympic Games will be hosted by a Canadian city. In 1976 Summer Games were held in Montreal. In 1988 the Olympic Winter Games were held in Calgary. Vancouver is a Canadian city in the province of British Columbia. It is the biggest metropolis in the Western Canada and the third largest city in Canada.
In this city, this year, our country will take part in the following sports and disciplines: alpine skiing, Nordic combined, biathlon, figure skating and luge.
Graphic realization: Bozidar Dosenovic and Nebojsa Djumic
Printing house: POSTE SRPSKE, Banjaluka
