Bandy at the 1952 Winter Olympics

The Oslo Winter Olympics are the only time that bandy has been a demonstration sport at the Olympics. However, in 2001, bandy became an IOC-Recognized Sport, so there is some push to have bandy included on the Winter Olympics Programme in the future.

Bandy is primarily a Scandinavian sport that is a combination of ice hockey and football (soccer). Like ice hockey, the game is played on skates and with a stick, but it is played with a ball on an outdoor rink the size of a football pitch, and with 11 players a side and 45 minutes per half – like football. World Championships in bandy were first held in 1957, again in 1961, and then every two years until 2003, at which time the event became an annual one.