2016-02-04 Thu

For the first time ever, winter sports got its due respect when the debut Winter Olympics games, officially known as the I Olympic Winter Games flagged off in France between 25th January and 5th February, 1924.

It was at the foot of Mont Blanc in Chamonix, and Haute-Savoie, France that the sports competitions were organised by the French Olympic Committee that was designated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the I Olympic Winter Games.

The first Olympic coin can be traced back to 480 BC but commemorative coins on the modern Olympics were not released until 1951. These coins were minted so that those who could not attend the games could at least have a souvenir of the event.

In 1951, Finland minted the first modern Olympic coin, a 500 Markkaa. Whereas the first Winter Games commemorative 50 Schilling coin was released by the Government of Austria in 1964.

Several commemorative stamps were also issued marking various winter Olympic events.