Ice hockey at the Olympic Games Ice hockey at the Olympic Games Ice hockey tournaments have been staged at the Olympic Games since 1920. The men's tournament was introduced at the 1920 Summer Olympics and was transferred permanently to the Winter Olympic Games program in 1924, in France. The women's tournament was first held at the 1998 Winter Olympics. The Olympic Games were originally intended for amateur athletes. However, the advent of the state-sponsored "full-time amateur athlete" of the Eastern Bloc countries further eroded the ideology of the pure amateur, as it put the self-financed amateurs of the Western countries at a disadvantage. The Soviet Union
2006 Winter Paralympics male and 101 female. This is an increase from the 430 athletes participated in 2002. Despite overall increase of delegates and athletes, the following nations who participated in the 2002 Winter Paralympics did not send athletes to Turin. Mexico is the only country who had sent an athlete to these Games but not the Winter Olympic Games in 2006. These are the second Paralympic Games to be held in Italy, which hosted the first Summer Paralympics in Rome in 1960. These are the first Paralympic Games to feature a live webcast of events, hosted by ParalympicSport.TV. The Games mascot is