Vancouver 2010 Winter Games

The Winter Olympic Games are a winter multi-sport event held every four years. They feature winter sports held on snow or ice, such as Alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, ice skating, bobsledding, and ice hockey.

Each National Olympic Committee (NOC), as with the Summer Olympics, enters athletes to compete against other NOC's athletes for gold, silver, and bronze medals. Fewer countries participate in the Winter Olympics than the Summer Olympics, due largely to the reduced availability of winter sports in many countries nearer to the Equator, and where access to winter sport training facilities are quite limited or non-existent. Also areas in which the Winter Olympics are usually held, must be near a mountain range where it snows.