Olympics Ice hockey competitions have been held at the Olympic Games since 1920. The men’s contest was launched at the 1920 Summer Olympics, and  also included in the Winter Olympics Games in 1924. The women’s competition was held at the 1998 Winter Olympics for the first time.

The Olympic Games sms were initially intended for proletarian athletes, so the contestants of the National Hockey League (NHL) and other men’s professional leagues were not permissible to play. In the men’s contest, Canada conquered the first three decades, winning six of seven gold medals. Czechoslovakia, Sweden and the United States were too aggressive during this era and succeeded to get multiple medals.

In 1920-1968, the Olympic Ice hockey contest was also reckoned as the Ice Hockey World Championship for that year.  From 1924-1988, the classic competition started with a round-robin series of sports and ended with the medal round. Medals were granted based on points collected during that round. The Soviet Union initialy contributed in 1956 and overhauled Canada as the leading international team, triumphing seven of the nine tournaments in which they contributed. At the 1980 Winter Olympics, the American players offend the Soviet Union in the “Miracle on Ice” and carried on to get the gold medal. Now its time of 2010 winter olympics.