<Li> Cross ‐ country skiing </Li> <Li> Short track speed skating </Li> <P> The Winter Olympic Games (French: Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international sporting event held once every four years for sports practised on snow and ice . The first Winter Olympics, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held in Chamonix, France . The modern Olympic games were inspired by the ancient Olympic Games, which were held in Olympia, Greece, from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD . Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894, leading to the first modern Summer Games in Athens, Greece in 1896 . The IOC is the governing body of the Olympic Movement, with the Olympic Charter defining its structure and authority . </P> <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>

When did the olympics change to every two years