Abstract
Questions about the definition of winter sports (and what 'winter' means) are central to interpretations and understandings of Olympic Winter Games. The Olympic Charter gives the current International Olympic Committee (IOC) definition: 'only those sports which are practised on snow or ice are considered as winter sports'.
This is a very narrow and non-global definition, referring only to those sports that might rather be called 'cold sports', sometimes conventionally understood also as outdoor sports. The IOC's narrow definition of winter sports limits the size of the games and undermines the values of universalism and internationality and thereby also inclusion.
A non-global and non-inclusive definition of these sports does not cohere with these central values of the Olympic movement, as stated in its Charter.