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
Independent Olympic Athletes at the 2017 Asian Winter Games tournament. The Independent Olympic Athletes finished in sixth place (16th place overall) in division 2 of the competition. Independent Olympic Athletes at the 2017 Asian Winter Games Independent Olympic Athletes are scheduled to compete in the 2017 Asian Winter Games in Sapporo and Obihiro, Japan from February 19 to 26. The team is scheduled to compete in one sport: ice hockey, and consists of 23 athletes. The Kuwait Olympic Committee was suspended in October 2015, due to political interference. Therefore, the country is scheduled to compete under the Olympic flag as "Independent Olympic Athletes". The following table lists the delegation