Winter sports are not what we primarily associate with Spain. But the country has actually been an extremely faithful trotter in the Winter Games. Did you know that Spain has sent athletes to every Winter Olympics since 1936? And this year a team of 14 athletes will compete against the rest of the international winter sports elite for medals, fame and glory.
–
Tomorrow, Friday February 4, the XXIV Olympic Winter Games opens officially in Beijing, China. Spain has a squad of 14 athletes, ten men and four women, competing in six different disciplines which include alpine, cross-country and freestyle skiing, snowboarding, figure skating and skeleton (where a person rides face down and head first on a small sled or a skeleton bobsled if you like).
With a mere 5.3 million inhabitants, Norway tops the medal list in the Winter Olympics. Norwegian athletes have won as many as 368 medals over the years. To put it in perspective: Number 2 on the list, the United States, with its 330 million inhabitants has “only” captured 305 medals. Germany, in third place, have a total of 240 medals in the Winter Olympics.
–
Despite sending athletes to every Winter Olympics for the past 86 years, Spain has so far had to settle for a single gold and three bronze medals. Two of these bronze medals were won in the 2018 games by snowboarder Regino Hernández and figure skater Javier Fernández. The first bronze was won by Blanca Fernández Ochoa at the games in Albertville in 1992 and the only gold by Francisco Fernández Ochoa in Sapporo in 1972.
You can find the events schedule, news from the games and more on the Spanish Olympic Committee website.
We wish the athletes all the best for great success during these games!
Want to read more about all the Spanish athletes going to the Beijing Olympics? See the Spanish Olympics Committee’s own website.
Featured picture: Source Pixabay Winter Olympics by Stux.
Find Your Spain!
Like this article? Please share it with your friends and family.
