The philosophy and guiding principles of the modern Winter Olympic movement aims to bring people from around the world, together, to celebrate all that is good and all that is fair and sporting in participants, as they endeavor to compete and do their utmost in their chosen events. The organising committee didn’t reckon on arguments about anthems, flags, sabotage of participants, drug abuse, bribery and all manner of shenanigans and disputes to spoil the party. That’s before they factored in the weather which can be a fickle mistress when you want it to play ball. Just about the only scandal free games have been the ones held between 1936 and 1948, chiefly because they’re weren’t any, they were cancelled due to the Germans wanting to rule all the sun loungers in world and declaring war on all who dare place towels there.

The 1928 games, held in St Moritz, Switzerland were hampered by adverse weather condition, can’t blame the hosts or the athletes for that, the opening ceremony was held in a blizzard and then warm weather set in for the duration, forcing the abandonment and cancellation of some events. Sonja Henie the Norwegian figure skater was a happy bunny though, she became the youngest Olympic champion, a boast she could claim for 74 years. A lack of snow nearly put paid to the 1932 edition, hosted by Lake Placid in the United States. The first time the event had been held outside of Europe. In the midst of the Great Depression, Lake Placid was a bus stop to far for a lot of European competitors who decided to give it a miss due to lack of funds. There was a lack of snow too for a good two months prior to the start of the games. Conditions improved by mid January enabling the hosts to hold all the events. There was a lot of nail biting going on, no medals were awarded for that event, sadly. Eddy Eagan, who had been Olympic boxing champion in 1920 and an unlikely one at that, having studied law at Harvard, won gold in the bobsleigh event to become the first and so far only Olympian to have won gold in both Winter and Summer Olympics.

The Germans, who had yet to launch the Sun Lounger Blitzkreig, were invited to host the 1936 edition. Two German towns, Garmisch and Partenkirchen joined forces to organise the event. However that ended in tears, Alpine Skiing was introduced for the first time but skiing teachers were barred as they were considered professional, counter to the Olympic ethos of amateur participation. The Swiss and the Austrian’s were having none of it and quit en masse, taking their Toblerone and Apfelstrudel with them. Fast forward to 1948, St. Moritz was selected for the second time to host the first post war games. Swiss neutrality had protected the town during World War II and most of the venues were in place from the 1928 Games, thus making St. Moritz a logical choice. Germany and Japan, perhaps understandably were not invited, they were both consigned to the naughty chair for the whole event. The Olympic Flag presented at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp was stolen, as was its replacement, the obvious suspects were otherwise engaged, sitting it out. It wasn’t jolly hockey sticks when two teams arrived from the United States both claiming to be the legitimate U.S Olympic Hockey team. Maybe the disgruntled impostors sloped off with the flag in retaliation. Next week, we'll take a look at more controversy that befell the later editions.