Norway has competed in every Winter Olympics since the first one at Chamonix in 1924. Their team of 14 athletes won 17 medals, including four gold, to finish top - a position they have not relinquished in the near 100 years since. Before the start of Beijing 2022, they had won a total of 368 medals, including 132 gold, leaving them a long way clear of nearest rivals United States. More than half of these medals have come from cross-country skiing and speed skating. Norway is one of only three nations - along with Austria and Liechtenstein - to have won more medals at the Winter Games than at the Summer edition.

Beijing 2022 mascot Bing Dwen Dwen has been sold out at many stores in the Chinese capital after a buying frenzy followed the Opening Ceremony on Friday (February 4). 

Short track speed skating was introduced as a demonstration sport at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. It was upgraded to a full Olympic sport at Albertville 1992 and has been part of the Winter Olympics ever since. There were only four short track events in 1992, but the programme was expanded to include six events at Lillehammer 1994 and Nagano 1998, and finally eight events at Salt Lake City 2002. The events are the same for both men and women: 500 metres, 1000m, 1500m, plus the relay event - 5000m for men, 3000m for women. A 2000m mixed team relay was added, and made its debut at Beijing 2022, with host nation China claiming the gold medal.

China delivered home success on the opening day of the Winter Olympics here by taking short track speed skating gold at the Capital Indoor Stadium.

At the first Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix in 1924, Norway’s Thorleif Haug won all three Nordic skiing events - the 18 and 50 kilometres cross-country and the Nordic combined. He was also awarded the bronze medal in ski jumping. But 50 years later a mistake was found in the calculation of the scores by Norwegian sports historian Jacob Vaage and Haug was demoted to fourth place. It meant Anders Haugen, an American born in Norway, was promoted to third place. In September 1974, Haugen returned to Norway as an 86-year-old and was given the bronze medal by Anna Maria Magnussen, Haug's youngest daughter.

In the end it was fire and ice at the Opening Ceremony. 

Japan's freestyle snowboard stars Ayumu Hirano and Kokomo Murase lead hopes for their nation prior to action starting tomorrow at the Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

Three-time Olympic champion Johannes Høsflot Klæbo is the headlining name on Norway's cross-country team, with the most-successful Winter Olympic nation expected to dominate the sport at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. 

Trinidad and Tobago's flagbearer for the Opening Ceremony at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games here is set to be Andre Marcano, with the bobsleigh brakeman taking the lead for once at the Beijing National Stadium.

Alpine skier Márton Kékesi and Zita Tóth will carry the Hungarian flag at the Opening Ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing tonight, but almost half of the team are unlikely to take part in the parade of nations.

Reigning men’s Nordic combined world champion Jarl Magnus Riiber is set to miss his opening event of the 2022 Winter Olympics here following a positive COVID-19 test, while several team-mates have been identified as close contacts.

Alpine skier Dave Ryding and curling skip Eve Muirhead will carry the British flag in the Opening Ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games here tonight. 

Germany have chosen speedskater Claudia Pechstein and bobsledder Francesco Friedrich to carry the flag in the Opening Ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games here tonight. 

Beijing’s "Birds Nest" will tonight become the first stadium in history to  host a Summer and Winter Olympic Opening Ceremony.

Walt Disney was chairman of the Pageantry Committee at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley and responsible for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies at Blyth Memorial Arena. He organised an opening that included 5,000 entertainers, the release of 2,000 pigeons, and a military gun salute of eight shots, one for each of the previous Winter Olympics. The Ceremony was delayed by an hour due to heavy snow but was still a great success. The festivities began with a sustained drum roll as the flags of each participating nation were raised on specially designed flag poles. Vice-president Richard Nixon represented the United States Government and declared the Games open.