The 1940 Winter Olympics — officially the V Olympic Winter Games — were planned but never took place. The Games had a formal schedule for 2–11 February 1940 and passed through several proposed hosts before being abandoned when global conflict made international competition impossible. Although no medals were awarded and no official Olympic competition occurred, the 1940 saga illustrates how political and military crises can interrupt international sporting traditions.

Initial award and withdrawal

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) originally awarded the winter programme to Sapporo in Japan. Had those plans been carried out, they would have marked the first Winter Games scheduled for Asia. In 1938 the Japanese organisers notified the IOC that they could not stage the event because of the wider regional conflict, most directly the Second Sino‑Japanese War, and the bid was relinquished.

Reassignments and disputes

After Sapporo's withdrawal the IOC reallocated the Games to St. Moritz in Switzerland, a resort town with recent Olympic experience. However, disagreements between the Swiss organisers and the IOC over the administration and execution of certain events could not be resolved, so the IOC sought another venue. These disputes prevented St. Moritz from becoming the definitive host for 1940.

Final plan and cancellation

The IOC then proposed returning the Winter Games to Garmisch‑Partenkirchen in Germany, the alpine town that had hosted the 1936 Winter Olympics (1936). A provisional programme and schedule existed for a February 1940 competition, but the outbreak and escalation of World War II made international travel, athlete participation, and safe staging impossible. By the autumn of 1939 the IOC and national Olympic committees recognised that the Games could not proceed and the 1940 Winter Olympics were cancelled.

Key events and timeline

  • Award to Sapporo (original selection) — withdrawn in 1938 because of war in East Asia.
  • Reassignment to St. Moritz — cancelled due to organisational disagreements.
  • Final relocation planned for Garmisch‑Partenkirchen — cancelled as global war expanded.
  • No Winter Olympics were held in 1940 or 1944; the Winter Games resumed in 1948.

Although the competitions themselves never occurred, the truncated 1940 Winter Olympics shaped later Olympic planning and highlighted the vulnerability of international events to geopolitical crises. Some places associated with the 1940 sequence later hosted the Games: St. Moritz staged the first post‑war Winter Olympics in 1948, and Sapporo eventually hosted the Winter Olympics in 1972. Garmisch‑Partenkirchen remains an important centre for winter sports and historical memory of the interwar Olympic movement.