Before 1924, when the first Winter Olympic Games were celebrated, sports held on ice, like figure skating and ice hockey, were contested at the Summer Olympics.[20] These two sports made their debuts at the 1908 and the 1920 Summer Olympics, respectively, but were permanently integrated in the Winter Olympics program as of the first edition.[21] The International Winter Sports Week, later dubbed the I Olympic Winter Games and retroactively recognized as such by the IOC, consisted of nine sports. The number of sports contested at the Winter Olympics has since been decreased to seven, comprising a total of fifteen disciplines.[22]
A sport or discipline must be widely practiced in at least 25 countries on three continents in order to be included on the Winter Olympics program.[2
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