<P> The original five Winter Olympics sports (broken into nine disciplines) were bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, Nordic skiing (consisting of the disciplines military patrol, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, and ski jumping), and skating (consisting of the disciplines figure skating and speed skating). The Games were held every four years from 1924 to 1936, interrupted in 1940 and 1944 by World War II, and resumed in 1948 . Until 1992 the Winter and Summer Olympic Games were held in the same years, but in accordance with a 1986 decision by the IOC to place the Summer and Winter Games on separate four - year cycles in alternating even - numbered years, the next Winter Olympics after 1992 was in 1994 . </P> <P> The Winter Games have evolved since their inception . Sports and disciplines have been added and some of them, such as Alpine skiing, luge, short track speed skating, freestyle skiing, skeleton, and snowboarding, have earned a permanent spot on the Olympic programme . Some others, including curling and bobsleigh, have been discontinued and later reintroduced; others have been permanently discontinued, such as military patrol, though the modern Winter Olympic sport of biathlon is descended from it . Still others, such as speed skiing, bandy and skijoring, were demonstration sports but never incorporated as Olympic sports . The rise of television as a global medium for communication enhanced the profile of the Games . It generated income via the sale of broadcast rights and advertising, which has become lucrative for the IOC . This allowed outside interests, such as television companies and corporate sponsors, to exert influence . The IOC has had to address numerous criticisms over the decades like internal scandals, the use of performance - enhancing drugs by Winter Olympians, as well as a political boycott of the Winter Olympics . Nations have used the Winter (as well as Summer) Games to proclaim the superiority of their political systems . </P> <P> The Winter Olympics has been hosted on three continents by twelve different countries . The Games have been held four times in the United States (in 1932, 1960, 1980 and 2002); three times in France (in 1924, 1968 and 1992); and twice each in Austria (1964, 1976), Canada (1988, 2010), Japan (1972, 1998), Italy (1956, 2006), Norway (1952, 1994), and Switzerland (1928, 1948). Also, the Games have been held just once each in Germany (1936), Yugoslavia (1984), Russia (2014) and South Korea (2018). The IOC has selected Beijing, China, to host the 2022 Winter Olympics and the host of the 2026 Winter Olympics will be selected in September 2019 . As of 2018, no city in the southern hemisphere has applied to host the cold - weather - dependent Winter Olympics, which are held in February at the height of the southern hemisphere summer . </P> <P> To date, twelve countries have participated in every Winter Olympic Games--Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States . Six of those countries have earned medals at every Winter Olympic Games--Austria, Canada, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the United States . The only country to have earned a gold medal at every Winter Olympics is the United States . Norway leads the all - time medal table for the Winter Olympics both on number of gold and overall medals, followed by the United States and Germany . </P>

On how many different continents have the winter olympics games been held