Winter sport in Australia individual from the Southern Hemisphere, to win a Winter Olympic gold medal and was also part of the short track relay team that won Australia's first Winter Olympic medal (a bronze in 1994). Australia first competed in the Winter Olympic Games in 1936 and has taken part in every Winter Olympics since 1952. Australia first entered an ice hockey team in the 1960 Winter Olympics. It won its first Winter Olympic medal, a bronze, in 1994, and became the only southern hemisphere country to win Winter Olympic gold in 2002. Australia has competed in every Winter Paralympic Games, and has
Olympic Games of sports to encompass other winter activities. At the 1921 Olympic Congress in Lausanne, it was decided to hold a winter version of the Olympic Games. A winter sports week (it was actually 11 days) was held in 1924 in Chamonix, France, in connection with the Paris Games held three months later; this event became the first Winter Olympic Games. Although it was intended that the same country host both the Winter and Summer Games in a given year, this idea was quickly abandoned. The IOC mandated that the Winter Games be celebrated every four years on the same year