On this day, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that the 1940 Winter Olympics were cancelled.
The Winter Olympics of 1940 experienced a troubled history. First awarded to the Japanese city Sapporo, the Japanese government returned the games due to the developing war between itself and neighboring China. The IOC then decided to award the Winter Olympics to Germany, to be held in the Bavarian ski town Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in southern Germany. Garmisch-Partenkirchen had held the previous Winter Olympics. However, the IOC decided to cancel the games after Germany invaded Poland.
The Winter Olympics, and the Summer Olympics, would not take place for the rest of the war. The next Winter Olympics would be held in 1948 in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The Summer Olympics, cancelled since Berlin held the 1936 games, would also take place in 1948, this time in London.
