How the Winter Games Differ From the Summer Games

The Winter Olympics run at about a third the scale of the summer edition, roughly 3,000 athletes against more than 11,000, with around one hundred events rather than three hundred plus. Snow and ice sports concentrate the medal table: Norway, a country of five and a half million people, holds the record for most medals at a single Winter Games with 39 at PyeongChang 2018.

The winter calendar split from summer in 1994, so Lillehammer stands just two years after Albertville. Beijing 2022 became the first city to host both editions, and Milan and Cortina keeps the rotation moving in 2026..