Last updated on June 17th, 2021
Winter Olympics sports logo have a great history behind them. But, before we discuss about them, let’s first take a look on the history of Winter Olympics. Winter Olympics are a place where athlete all across the world want to show their skills and won medal for their country in winter sports. The competition was started way back in 1924 and since then they have been hosted after every four years. There were exceptions when the Olympics got cancelled because of world war. But, the competition was restarted again in 1948 with an aim to promote healthy competition among athletes and a hope to unite the world for greater good.
Countries all across the world bid to host the Winter Olympic games and the one that wins, gets the honor to host the games. From the beginning of the winter Olympic history, the host city would make a logo for the same. Graphic designers come up with several innovative designs to make one of the most memorable logo. Here in this article we have written about all the winter Olympic logos that have been there along with their meaning.
Let’s Look At Winter Olympic Sports Logo – History And Its Evolution
01. Winter Olympics 1924
The first winter Olympics was hosted by Chamonix, France. The 1924 winter Olympic sport logo used poster instead of usual icon or typeface. It was inspired by the 1920s French art trend. The poster featured the French Bobsled team with the French mountain in background.
02. Winter Olympics 1928
St. Moritz in Switzerland hosted the second Olympics. Like the first Olympic logo it too went with poster image. The image contained snowy mountains as it is in Switzerland along with Olympic flag and Switzerland flag.
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03. Winter Olympics 1932
The first winter olympic games took place in the year 1932 in Lake Placid, NY. The logo was a simple one which had the five olympic ring, venue and time of the event and an image icon. The image icon showed lake placid where the olympics would take place and a skier representing winter sports.
04. Winter Olympics 1936
The 1936 winter olympic was held in market town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria, Germany. The logo as usual had the five rings and in the circular box was depicted the host place name and year. The image icon used was Garmisch-Partenkirchen Alps, the place for the event, with a ski track leading to the mountains in the background.
05. Winter Olympics 1948
Known as “The Games of Renewal”, this was the first olympics after the World War 2. St. Moriz in Switzerland. Switzerland was chosen as avenue because of its neutral status in world war. The logo had sun with rays beaming out of it, probably as a symbol of much needed hope after the world war 2.
06. Winter Olympics 1952
The 1952 winter olympic was hosted by Oslo, Norway. The logo design for the olympic was chosen from public competition. The emblem of the logo had the New Oslo city hall with the olympic rings overlaid above it.
07. Winter Olympics 1956
The 1956 winter olympic is also known as VII Olympic Winter Games and was hosted by the city of Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. The logo emblem had stylized snowflake with olympic ring and a star that represented the emblem of Italian Olympics Committee.
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08. Winter Olympics 1960
The VIII Olympic Winter Games was hosted in Squaw Valley, California, United States. The logo of this winter olympics were a symbol of american patriotism. The logo emblem had three triangles with olympic rings in between them. The triangle in the logo was either meant to be seen as snowflake or a star.
09. Winter Olympics 1964
Innsbruck in Austria hosted the IX Olympic Winter Games. The logo emblem was showed the coat of arms of Innsbruck. It represented the bridge on Inn river which connected the old town with Hötting district.
10. Winter Olympics 1968
The X Olympic Winter Games were hosted at Grenoble, France in the year 1968. The logo emblem had a snow crystal and three red roses which is the symbol of Grenoble. The peculiar thing about the logo was the use of monochromatic color of the olympic rings which otherwise were always represented by their respective color.
11.Winter Olympics 1972
Sapporo, Japan was the host city for the XIth Olympic Winter Games. The logo for the games had three distinct features, as follows:
- The rising Sun which is the symbol of Japan
- Snowflake which was taken from the sketch of the coat of arms from an ancient Japanese family
- The third was the Olympic ring with the text “Sapporo 72” written below it
12. Winter Olympics 1976
Innsbruck hosted the winter olympics for the second time in 1976, after it had successfully hosted it in the year 1964. The logo this time was a slight modification from the one in 1964. The emblem represented the coat of arms of Innsbruck that showed the bridge on Inn river which connects Old Town with Hotting District.
One can think of the bridge and olympic ring as a symbol of friendship among people across globe through olympic games. Also, the emblem had indents which matched two olympic rings. This represented the two Olympic games that Innsbruck had hosted.
13. Winter Olympics 1980
Lake Placid in New York hosted the XIII Olympic Winter Games in 1980. Lines are drawn as an emblem for the logo that form Adirondacks. It becomes a column on the left side in order to pay tribute to the ancient Olympic games. The top of the column had indent for two purpose- firstly to hold the Olympic rings and secondly to acknowledge the fact that winter Olympics were held twice at Lake Placid.
14. Winter Olympics 1984
The XIV Olympic Winter Games was hosted by Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. The logo emblem had a stylized snowflake which also represented the embroidery produced in the Sarajevo region. The Olympics ring were placed above the snowflake and contrary to the original ring design, they were made of single orange color.
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15. Winter Olympics 1988
The 1988 Winter Olympic was held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The logo emblem was a pentagon shaped, stylized snowflake and maple leaf. It was made using five small and five capital ‘C’ letter symbolising the country Canada and Calgary. The Olympic logo was placed below the emblem.
16. Winter Olympics 1992
The XVI Olympic Winter Games were held in Albertville France. The logo emblem is the flag of Savoy region depicted in the form of Olympic flame and dancing above stripes which represents the flag of France. Below the emblem the venue and year was written as “Albertville 92” and beneath it was the Olympic ring.
17. Winter Olympics 1994
The 1994 winter olympics was hosted by Lillehammer, Norway. The logo had stylized aurora borealis(northern lights), which is a natural phenomenon that occurs in Norway because of its northerly position. Apart from it the logo had snow crystals, five olympic rings and in Serif font had the title ‘Lillehammer 94’ written.
18. Winter Olympics 1998
Nagano in Japan hosted the XVIII Olympic Winter Games. The logo was made in the shape of flower with each of its petal representing an athlete practising a different winter sports. The flower was also similar to a mountain flower which depicted Nagano’s commitment to environmental protection.
19. Winter Olympics 2002
The XIX Olympic Winter Games were held in Salt Lake City, Utah. The logo was a stylized snow crystal made in bright yellow, orange and blue color, which are the colors found in Utah landscape. The color theme also conveyed the meaning of contrast, culture and courage. Below the emblem was written the title ‘Salt lake 2002’ and had the Olympic rings beneath it.
20. Winter Olympics 2006
Turin, Italy hosted the 20th Winter Olympic games. The logo emblem showed stylized profile of the Mole Antonelliana. The mountain is transformed into crystal of ice made in blue and white color. The color signified snow and the sky. Also, the crystal were made in a way that it look like webs representing the web of new technologies and perhaps how Olympics bring people from across the globe together.
21. Winter Olympics 2010
2010 winter Olympics were held in Vancouver, Canada. The logo was named Ilanaaq the Inukshuk. Inukshuk is a traditional stone sculpture that is used by Inuit people of Canada. The Inukshuk has two pillars which serve as legs, then there is a horizontal shape that act as arm and there is an eagle instead of head.
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22. Winter Olympics 2014
The 22nd winter olympics were held in Sochi Russia. The logo was the first with no images and just the use of typeface. The logo has host place ‘Sochi’ and year ‘2014’ written in a way that they appear to be mirror of each other. This probably was done to represent the contrast in Russian landscape. The logo also had .ru written which is the top-level web domain of Russia.
23. Winter Olympics 2018
The 2018 winter Olympic is currently being hosted in PyeongChang, South Korea. The logo has two elements. A square which represents harmony between heaven, earth and man. The other symbol is a star which in korean alphabet means ice or snow.
Isn’t it amazing that every host city comes with a logo of their own during the Olympics! This also ascertains the fact that logo is one of the most important element in creating a brand identity which in this case is the venue of Olympic game.
Conclusion
We hope you enjoyed the logo designs of the Olympic games and got a bit of knowledge about Olympics as well. Do share your views in the comment box below.
