Winter sports facts

In Australia. Australia has several well developed downhill ski resorts in the high country of the states of New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. Canberra is situated around two hours from the New South Wales ski-fields, while Melbourne is just 120 km from Mount Baw Baw.

Telemark is a form of downhill skiing using bindings where the boot is attached only at the toe (similar to those of Cross-country skiing). It came to the attention of the Norwegian public in 1868, when Sondre Norheim took part in a ski jumping competition. Norheim's technique of fluid turns soon dominated skiing. Starting in the 1910s, newer techniques based on the stem gradually replaced Telemark in the Alpine countries, as easier to master and more suitable for steep slopes.

Ski jumping. Diuretics are used in sports with weight limits to reduce weight quickly. Sports where weight loss may be an advantage include the martial arts, rowing, boxing, weight lifting and - most of all - ski jumping. Athletes have also taken diuretics to speed up the rate that other banned drugs are passed out of their body.

Austria. Of the total number of 397 medals awarded so far, Austria got 105, nearly twice as much as Switzerland, which comes second with 56 medals. Austrian dominance is not limited to the Olympic Games - Austrians won also nearly 30% of all Alpine Skiing World Cup races.

Finland. There are no places to practice alpine skiing in Finland, as the country is flat. In the whole history of the Olympic Games, Finland won only one medal (Tanja Poutiainen, silver in giant slalom in 2006).

Stefan Kraft. As of March 2017, the world record for the longest ski jump is 253.5 metres, set by Stefan Kraft at Vikersundbakken in Vikersund, Norway. Two years prior, also in Vikersund, Dimitry Vassiliev reached 254 metres, but fell upon landing; his jump has been unofficially the longest ever made.

1953. The Four Hills Tournament is a ski jumping event composed of four World Cup events and has taken place in Germany and Austria each year since 1953. With a few exceptions the ski jumping events are held chronologically in Oberstdorf, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Innsbruck and Bischofshofen.

Central Asia. According to the latest research the homeland of skis is Central Asia - the area around Lake Baikal and Altai.The first skis produced for sports were created in Italy in 1867.

247.083 km/h. The official world record was set by Valentina Greggio (Italy) at Vars, France on March 26, 2016.