Historian and TV presenter Dan Snow is to look back at 90 years of the Winter Olympics in a new one-off BBC Two documentary to coincide with Sochi 2014.
Showing how the political upheaval of the 20th and 21st centuries have impacted on the Games, ‘Dan Snow’s History of the Winter Olympics’ embarks on an epic journey across nine countries and meets some of the key people who helped shape the Winter Games over its history.
Snow discovers that although the Olympic ideal may involve countries coming together in a spirit of friendship, the event, like its Summer counterpart, has frequently been affected by politics, whether it was due to Nazism or the tension surrounding the Cold War.
In a compelling mix of travelogue and history lesson, the presenter begins by telling the disturbing story of the Winter Games in Nazi Germany back in 1936.
The story of the intense rivalry between East and West during the Cold War ending with the Miracle on Ice, the 1980 men’s ice hockey match between USA and the USSR, is also told.
The programme also looks back on the unforgettable and emotional Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, the city that in 1984 chimed to the music of Bolero.
Jayne Torville and Christopher Dean reminisce about their performance as if it was ‘a dream’. Just eight years later, most of the Olympic sites were destroyed during the civil war.
The figure skaters weren’t the only Brits to shape Winter Olympic history, as Snow explains the pivotal role by Briton Arnold Lunn played in Alpine skiing.
Snow completes his journey in the little-known Swiss village of Mürren, where the blue riband event of the Winter Olympics was first organised by Lunn.
Did the British really invent the Winter Olympics? Not quite, but it is true that the British played an extraordinary role.
The seed of the formation of the Olympic Winter Games was sown with the Nordic Games, held in Sweden in 1901.
By 1924, Chamonix was the host to the first Winter Olympics, and four years later it was St Moritz’s turn, though a blizzard plagued the opening ceremony.
At one point, British heroes at the Winter Olympics were a rare breed, but then came John Curry who, although suffering from verrucas at the time, won gold in the 1976 figure skating competition.
Four years later came another success with Robin Cousins, who emulated Curry’s success, and, as the 1984 Games approached, a young duo from Nottingham took the limelight and eventually won gold in the ice dance championships.
Ten years after this win, Torvill and Dean returned to the Olympics and were awarded bronze.
All these moments and much more will be recounted in this new one-off documentary on BBC Two, which forms part of a range of support programming to mark the BBC’s comprehensive coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi on TV, radio and online.
Dan Snow’s History of the Winter Olympics airs on Thursday, January 30, on BBC Two and BBC Two HD at 9.00pm.
Viewers will be able to catch up and watch the programme on-demand soon after transmission on BBC iPlayer.
Watch a preview trailer of the programme in the player below:
.
Thursday 30th January
Dan Snow’s History of the Winter Olympics
9.00pm-10.00pm BBC Two
.
.
