History

2022

February 2022

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Visit https://www.census.gov/history every month for the latest Census History Home Page!

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U.S. Census Bureau History: The Winter Olympics

Team USA skier Ted Ligety (above) competed in four Winter Olympics, winning gold in the combined event at
the 2006 games in Turin, Italy, and the giant slalom in 2014 in Sochi, Russia.

In 2020, the U.S. Census Bureau's Annual Survey of Manufacturers reported that there were 36,405 people
employed in the Sporting and Athletic Goods Manufacturing sector (NAICS 339920), which included the
manufacturing employees who built bobsleds, skis and ski poles, hockey and figure skates, and athletic
helmets for professional athletes, Olympians, and winter sports enthusiasts.

Image courtesy of the U.S. State Department.

This month, Beijing, China, hosts athletes from around the world for the 2022 Winter Olympics—officially known as the XXIV Olympic Winter Games . Scheduled for February 4–20, 2022, the winter games will feature nearly 3,000 athletes competing in 15 sports, including skiing, bobsledding, curling, ice hockey, figure and speed skating, ski jumping, and snowboarding.

The Modern Olympic Games—those held under the auspices of the International Olympic Committee—began in 1896. The 1896 games in Athens, Greece, brought 241 athletes together from 14 nations to compete in "summer sports" like cycling, gymnastics, sailing, tennis, and wrestling. Fourteen American athletes competed in swimming, athletics (track and field sports), and shooting events. The Americans won a total of 20 medals, including 11 gold medals—more than any other nation at the 1896 Olympic Games.

The Olympics continued to be held every 4 years (except in 1916 due to World War I) until 1924, with events taking place in the summer and fall months. In 1924, the French Olympic Committee organized an "International Winter Sports Week" held January 25–February 5. More than 250 athletes from 16 nations gathered in Chamonix, France, to participate in 5 sports: bobsledding, curling, ice hockey, skating, and Nordic skiing. American speed skater Charles Jewtraw won gold in the 500-meter race; Beatrix Loughran won the first of three Olympics figure skating medals—which she would earn at the 1924, 1928, and 1932 winter games—the United States men's hockey team took home silver; and Anders Haugen won a ski jumping bronze medal—the only medal an American athlete has won in an Olympic ski jumping event. The 1924 Chamonix games proved so popular and successful that the International Olympic Committee retroactively designated the 1924 games as the first Olympic Winter Games.

Except for the 1940 and 1944 Olympics which were cancelled due to World War II, the Winter Olympic Games continued to be played at 4-year intervals in the same year as the Summer Olympics until 1992. Following the 1994 Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway, the Winter and Summer Olympics have been held at alternating 2-year intervals, with the most recent Summer Olympics being the 2020 games (delayed until 2021 because of COVID-19) in Tokyo, Japan. Following the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, Milan–Cortina d'Amprezzo, Italy, will host the next winter games in 2026 .

You can learn more about the Winter Olympics, American Olympians, and winter sports using data and records collected by the U.S. Census Bureau's censuses and surveys. For example:

• Development of "modern" figure skating is attributed to New York City, NY, ballet dancer Jackson Haines, who began ice skating to music in the 1860s. Haines won the first "Championships of America" held in Troy, NY, in 1864, but his "fluid" style of skating (versus the rigid English style) did not become popular in the United States until after his 1875 death. Figure skating became an Olympic sport at the 1908 London Olympics and ice dancing was added to the 1976 Winter Olympics held in Montreal, Canada. For his contributions to figure skating—including the "sit spin"—Haines was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, CO, in 1976.
• Data from the Census Bureau's County Business Patterns series found that 330 alpine skiing, cross country skiing, downhill skiing, and ski resorts without accommodations (NAICS 713920) in the United States had 73,195 paid employees during the pay period that included March 12, 2019. Data for alpine skiing facilities with accommodations were tabulated among the 54,955 establishments in the NAICS 721110 Hotels (except Casino Hotels) and Motels sector and had 1,648,109 paid employees. Data for ice skating rinks are included among the 39,297 Fitness and Recreational Sports Centers (NAICS 713940) in the United States. These establishments had 777,590 paid employees for the same pay period in 2019.
• In 2020, the U.S. Census Bureau's Annual Survey of Manufacturers reported that there were 36,405 people employed in the Sporting and Athletic Goods Manufacturing sector (NAICS 339920), which included the manufacturing employees who built bobsleds, skis and ski poles, hockey and figure skates, and athletic helmets for professional athletes, Olympians, and winter sports enthusiasts.
• The residents of many popular winter sports destinations in the United States work in sectors that support their region's tourist economies. For example, 23.1 percent of the 7,004 people living in Aspen, CO; 25.8 percent of the 8,396 people who call Park City, UT, home; and 41.7 percent of the population of Vail, CO, worked in the Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation, and Accommodation and Food Services sectors in 2020. In the eastern United States, 19.6 percent of Killington, VT's 1,407 residents and 36.7 percent of Carrabassett Valley, ME's population of 673 worked in the Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation, and Accommodation and Food Services sectors in 2019.
• You can learn more about many American Olympians and athletes from their publicly available census records maintained by the National Archives. Examples include: the 1936 Summer Olympics gold medal-winning track and field star Jesse Owens; 5,000 meter runner and World War II veteran Louis Zamperini who was featured in the 2014 movie Unbroken; Jim Thorpe, who led the American decathlon and pentathlon teams to gold medals in 1912; Hawaiian swimmer Duke Kanhanamoku, who won medals at the 1912, 1920, and 1924 Olympics; Eddie Eagan, who became the only athlete to win gold medals in both the Summer (boxing, 1920) and Winter Olympics (4-man bobsled, 1932); and 1932 Olympics gold- and silver-medalist Babe Didrikson Zaharias, who went on to win 10 Ladies Professional Golf Association Championships between 1940 and 1954.
• According to the American Community Survey, 41.1 million Americans (12.7 percent of the nation's civilian noninstitutionalized population) reported they had a disability in 2019. Some of these adults and children will compete in the Special Olympics and Paralympic Games. Disabled athletes will compete in the XIII Winter Paralympic Winter Games held in Beijing, China, from March 4–13, 2022. Children and adults with intellectual and physical disabilities were scheduled to compete in the 2022 Special Olympics World Winter Games in Kazan, Russia, in January 2022, but COVID-19 forced organizers to postpone the games until 2023.
• Snowboarding made its Olympic debut at the 1998 Winter Olympics held in Nagano, Japan. Sherman Poppen invented the sport of snowboarding in the 1960s when he bolted two skis together to make a single, wider board for his daughter to play with near their Muskegon, MI, home. Poppen patented his "Snurfer" in 1968 and Muskegon commemorated the invention with a bronze sculpture called "Turning Point" in 2012. Thanks to his invention, Poppen (who died in 2019 ) helped make snowboarding one of the most popular winter sport in the United States according to the Outside Business Journal .
• Athletes from the United States have attended the Winter Olympics since the inaugural 1924 games in Chamonix, France. Between 1924 and 2018, Norwegian, American, and German athletes have won more medals at the Winter Olympics than all other countries. Although Americans will naturally cheer for Team USA, Norwegian and German athletes can expect to receive lots of stateside support. American Community Survey data showed that in 2019, 4,295,923 Americans reported Norwegian ancestry and 40,363,511 reported German ancestry.
• Did you know that Poughkeepsie, NY, native Debi Thomas became the first Black athlete from any nation to win a medal at the Winter Olympics? She won figure skating bronze at the 1988 winter games in Calgary, Canada. Fourteen years later, Vonetta Flowers of Birmingham, AL, became the first Black athlete from any country to win a gold medal at a Winter Olympics. Flowers won gold in the 2-woman bobsled at the 2002 winter games in Salt Lake City, UT. Hayward, CA, native Kristi Yamaguchi was the first Asian-American woman to win a gold medal at the winter games for her performance in the individual figure skating competition at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France. Although several American Indian, Native Hawaiian, and Hispanic-American athletes have won Summer Olympic medals—most notably Jim Thorpe, Duke Kanhanamoku, and Jasmine Camacho Quinn —Winter Olympics medals remain elusive.
• The U.S. Census Bureau can claim at least one Olympian among its employees! Prior to joining the Census Bureau's geography division, August Nogara competed in the road cycling event at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium. During the race, Nogara crashed into a territorial rooster. Despite injuries to his arms, legs, and face, he was able to finish the race ahead of 16 competitors to claim 30th place. As a team, Nogara and the America road cycling team finished 7th. Learn more about some of the other remarkable people who have worked at the Census Bureau at our Notable Alumni website.

When artist Hy Sandham created this lithograph of families skating on a frozen pond around 1890, the sport of "modern" figure skating was just a few decades old.

Figure skating debuted at the London Olympics in 1908; Speed skating made it Olympics debut at the 1924 games in Chamonix, France; and ice dancers won their first
medals at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Montreal, Canada.

Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.

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This Month in Census History

On February 16, 1954, Dr. Ralph J. Watkins submitted his Watkins Commission Report to the Secretary of Commerce.

The report urged Congress to fund the economic census (which was in danger of cancellation), noting that its data serve "as a basis for innumerable decisions and actions, throughout our national life."

In response, Congress passed Public Law 83-411 to fund censuses of manufacturing, mineral industries, and other businesses in 1955.

Today, the Census Bureau continues to conduct economic censuses in years ending in "2" and "7."

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Olympic Cities

The United States has hosted four Winter and four Summer Olympics since the Modern Olympic Games began in 1896.

St. Louis, MO, hosted the "Games of the III Olympiad" with events spread out between July 1 and November 23, 1904. For the first time at the St. Louis games, gold, silver, and bronze medals were awarded to the top athletes in each event.

Lake Placid, NY, hosted the Winter Olympics in February 1932. Los Angeles, CA, served as the venue for the Summer Olympics later that year.

Squaw Valley, CA, hosted the 1960 Winter Olympics; Lake Placid, NY, hosted winter games again in 1980; the 1984 Summer Olympics took place in Los Angeles, CA; Atlanta, GA, hosted the 1996 summer games; and most recently, the 2002 winter games took place in Salt Lake City, UT.

Following the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, the 2024 summer games will be held in Paris, France, and Milan–Cortina d'Amprezzo, Italy, will host the 2026 Winter Olympics.

The United States will next host an Olympics in 2028. On July 31, 2017, the International Olympic Committee announced that the 2028 Summer Olympics will once again be played in Los Angeles, CA.

Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.

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Did you know?

North America's oldest operating ski area is Howelsen Hill in Steamboat Springs, CO. Nearly 100 Olympians have trained at Howelsen Hill since Norwegian immigrant Karl F. Hovelsen opened the facility in 1915.

Mathews Arena in Boston, MA, and the Calumet Colosseum in Calument, MI, built in 1910 and 1913, respectively, are two of the oldest operating indoor hockey arenas in the world.

Union Pacific Railroad engineer James Curran invented the chairlift in the 1930s. Today, some of the oldest operating chairlifts can be found at ski resorts in Fayston, VT (1948); Carrabassett, ME (1956); and White Pass, near Yakima, WA (1957).

Curling has been an Olympic event since the first Winter Olympics in 1924, but Americans began playing the sport much earlier. The first American curling club opened in Orchard Lake, MI, in 1831.

Kevin Bickner of Wauconda, IL, holds the American ski jumping record after soaring 244.5 meters in Vikersund, Norway, in 2017. That is equivalent to the length of nearly three football fields!

Speed skaters Apolo Anton Ohno (2 gold, 2 silver, 4 bronze) of Seattle, WA, and Bonnie Blair (5 gold and 1 bronze) of Cornwall, NY, are the most decorated American Winter Olympians.

Photo courtesy of the National Science Foundation.

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Visit https://www.census.gov/history every month for the latest Census History Home Page!