If you’re more of a sports spectator than a competitor you’ve got until 2010 to wait for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

The Winter Olympics began in France, in 1924.

It was an eleven-day event, which included skiing, skating and ice hockey. 294 athletes from 16 nations took part in 14 events. It was the first time the winter games were held separately from the summer games.

Here are three of the events which make up the Winter Olympics today.

In the bobsleigh event, competitors have to steer a bobsleigh (a racing sledge) down an icy track.

To begin the run, team members usually push the bobsleigh and, once it has reached a certain speed, they then jump inside.

They can steer the bobsleigh by gently pulling on two pieces of rope attached to the front of the sleigh.

The winners are the team who reach the end of the track in the fastest time.

The Olympic bobsleigh competition has three events: two-man, four-man and two-woman.

Skiers wear ski boots attached to long, narrow skis. The smooth undersides of the skis allow the skier to glide along the snow. Skis are usually made of wood and/or plastic with metal edges.

There are lots of different skiing events in the Winter Olympics.

In alpine skiing, there are five events alone.

In the downhill event, skiers have to reach the bottom of the course in the fastest time.

In the slalom event, skiers have to ski around flags (gates) and, at the same time, try to finish the course in the fastest time possible.

In snowboarding, the rider stands on the snowboard with one foot forward. The snowboarder's feet are attached to the board.

There are two basic types of snowboards. One is freestyle, and the other is alpine.

Freestyle boards are used for doing tricks and jumps.

Alpine boards are used for racing.

In the Winter Olympics there are four snowboard events: the men's and women's half-pipe and the men's and women's parallel giant slalom. In the half-pipe, snowboarders do tricks and jumps using a U-shaped construction which looks like ‘half a pipe’. This is where the name comes from.

The object of the giant slalom is to go as fast as you can around the gates as you go downhill. If you miss a gate you are disqualified.

Winter sports are radical! So join in the fun by checking out your local indoor ski centre or ice-skating rink for more details.