Golden Years: Winter Olympics Special -
From a British Curling Gold in 1924 to Torvill and Dean, Eddie The Eagle and the Miracle on Ice
With the attention of the sporting world focusing on Sochi, this special Golden Years looks back on some memorable moments of the past at the Winter Olympics. Nick Metcalfe has been searching the archives to bring you a selection of glorious images from the past 90 years.
Daily Mail UK, 23 February 2014
The curling will doubtless look a little different in Sochi but here's a picture of Britain's team in action during the first Winter Olympics in Chamonix in 1924 - they dominated the competition, and won Britain's first ever gold medal at the Games. Golds have been much harder to come by in the intervening 90 years
Another picture here of the first Winter Games in Chamonix, a delightful one showing action from the bobsleigh competition, with Italy's four-man team seen in action
Ice hockey has always been a key part of the Winter Olympics and here is a picture of a match between Canada and America at the first Games in Chamonix.
The Canadians won gold - they dominated the early Olympic tournaments, winning six of the first seven. Great Britain claimed a bronze medal at that first Winter Olympics
Sonja Henie was one of the legendary champions of the early Winter Olympics.
She first competed as an 11-year-old at the 1924 Games. Here, the Norwegian - who later became a film star - is in action on her way to victory at the 1928 St Moritz Olympics. She successfully defended her singles title four years later in Lake Placid, and sealed a glorious hat-trick of victories at the 1936 Garmisch Games
This picture shows the opening ceremony of the 1932 Winter Games in Lake Placid. The third ever Winter Games, this event featured 17 nations and just 252 athletes.
The hosts America finished top of the medal tables, at a Games that lasted 12 days. Forty-eight years later, in 1980, Lake Placid hosted another Winter Games
This picture shows German skier Christl Cranz competing in the combined event in front of a crowd that includes uniformed Nazis and the party's flag
Most sports fans will know that the 1936 summer Olympics in Berlin were played out to the backdrop of Nazi propaganda, but less well known is that the 1936 Winter Games was also hosted in Germany, in the mountain town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
This picture shows Altweg - who was a junior tennis champion at Wimbledon before focusing on skating - competing at the 1948 St Moritz Olympics, where she won a bronze medal
Jeanette Altweg claimed skating gold for Britain at the 1952 Oslo Olympics. Only Altweg and Amy Williams, skeleton champion at the 2010 Vancouver Games, have been individual GB female champions at the Winter Games.
Tony Nash and Robin Dixon won Britain's first gold medal for 12 years when they claimed bobsleigh victory at the 1962 Innsbruck Games.
They were the beneficiaries of a famous piece of sportsmanship before their second run when they damaged a bolt on their sled and were lent a spare one by Italian rival Eugenio Monti
Frenchman Jean-Claude Killy was in many ways the biggest star of the 1968 Grenoble Olympics - the skier won a remarkable treble of gold medals in the downhill, slalom and giant slalom.
The above picture shows him in action in the giant slalom. In the below picture, Irina Rodnina and Alexei Ulanov from the Soviet Union perform a death spiral during their free programme at the 1972 Sapporo Games - the pair won gold in the event
A view of the ski jump competition here at the 1956 Olympics in the Italian town of Cortina d'Ampezzo. One of the most compact Winter Games of them all, the town had a population of just 6,500 people when it hosted the event
British skater John Curry in action here during his gold medal winning performance at the 1976 Games in Innsbruck.
One national newspaper described his five-minute performance as 'masterly in its cool beauty of movement'
In the history of winter sports, Austria's Franz Klammer is a genuine legend. His performance to win the men's downhill at the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck is part of skiing folklore.
Starting in 15th position, Klammer was the last of the top seeds to go, and needed to produce the performance of his life. He did just that, taking the most extraordinary risks on the way, as he won by 0.33 seconds to the delight of the adoring Austrian crowd
Robin Cousins was Britain's last male solo Olympic winner at the Winter Games, with his glorious success at the 1980 Lake Placid Games.
Following on from John Curry's success four years earlier, this was a golden period for British skating. At the end of 1980, Cousins was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year
'Do you believe in miracles? Yes' became one of the most famous lines in the history of sports broadcasting when it was delivered by Al Michaels in 1980.
The American ice hockey team - made up of amateur and collegiate players - defied all the odds and amazingly defeated the Soviet Union 4-3 on their way to winning gold. It became known as 'The Miracle On Ice' and is one of the truly memorable moments in the 90-year history of the Winter Olympics
Not just a sporting moment next, but something that seeped into the national consciousness and became an iconic moment of the 1980s. Even now, 30 years on, there's a pure magic to Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean's performance at the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics
With their perfect performance to 'Bolero' wowing the world and giving them their perfect set of scores. Here are two pictures of the British pair performing 'Bolero', together with a very famous scoreboard
Millions of people without a lot of interest in the Winter Olympics know all about the Jamaican bobsleigh team at the 1988 Games, thanks to the popular 1993 film 'Cool Runnings'.
True underdogs in every sense of the word, this picture shows Dudley Stokes climbing into the bobsled, along with Michael White, Devon Harris and Nelson Stokes. The Jamaicans proved to be an instant hit with the Calgary crowd, along with millions watching around the world on television
Eddie 'The Eagle' Edwards was one of the most famous people in the country in the early months of 1988
After his performances in the ski jumping at the Calgary Games captured the attention of the nation, and far beyond. Edwards, in action above, finished last in both the 70m and 90m events, but the worse he did, the more his popularity grew. In the below picture, Edwards is at the centre of media attention
23 FEB 1988: MICHAEL '' EDDIE THE EAGLE '' EDWARDS OF GREAT BRTIAIN IS MOBBED BY REPORTERS DURING THE 90 METRE SKI JUMP COMPETITION AT THE 1988 WINTER OLYMPICS. EDDIE THE EAGLE FINISHED IN LAST PLACE BUT WAS MUCH LOVED BY THE SPECTATORS.
It was more soap opera than sport at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics, when Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan competed.
Kerrigan won silver at the Games but only after recovering from an attack with metal baton a month before the Games - the assailant eventually revealed it was part of a plot hatched with Harding's ex-husband to ruin Kerrigan's chances. An emotional Harding could only finish eighth in Norway
You wouldn't normally expect millions of people to put off their bedtimes to watch a curling match, but that's the power of the Olympics.
In the above picture, Britain's curling captain Rhona Martin is seen delivering a stone during a dramatic Olympic final against Switzerland at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. Britain won 4-3, with Martin nervelessly delivering glory with the final stone of the final. In the below picture, she celebrates her magic moment, Britain's first gold for 18 years
A classic 'What Happened Next?' moment here, as America's Lindsey Jacobellis dramatically crashes out, under no pressure, at the very end of the snowboard cross final at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
Switzerland's Tanja Frieden gleefully took advantage, overtaking Jacobellis to snatch an unlikely gold
I love the fact that there are just two athletes pictured here - Canada's Sidney Crosby and American Ryan Miller - yet the moment was one that caused untold joy for millions of people across Canada.
Crosby is celebrating his dramatic overtime winner to give the Canadians a 3-2 win over their old rivals in the men's ice hockey final, on the final day of the 2010 Games in Vancouver
Amy Williams was the undoubted British star of the last Winter Games in Vancouver, becoming the country's first solo gold medallist for 30 years.
The Bath athlete dominated the women's skeleton final, winning by more than half a second. 'Never in a million years did I think I'd come here and win gold,' she said afterwards