oLahav said:

In case you’re wondering what happened to the 5th Winter Olympics (there seems to be 3 of them!) Here’s the story:

The games were originally awarded to Japan to be held in February 1940 at Sapporo. However, in 1937 the Second Sino-Japanese War began, and the games were returned to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). They awarded them to the town of St. Moritz in Switzerland, which held the 2nd Winter Olympics in 1928, but there were conflicts between the Swiss and the IOC. In spring 1939 the committee decided to move the games to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, which hosted the 4th Winter Olympics in 1936. However, on September 1940 Germany invaded Poland and World War II began, so the games were cancelled completely.

In 1939, Cortina d’Ampezzo in Italy was awarded the 6th Winter Olympics. After the 5th Winter Olympic was cancelled these became the 5th Olympics instead. However, due to WWII, the games were cancelled again in 1941.

The 5th Winter Olympic games were finally in 1948, at St. Moritz, Switzerland. The games reached back at Cortina d’Ampezzo in 1956 for the 7th Olympics, and the 11th games of 1972 were finally hosted at Sapporo, Japan.

Cool!