Bandy, Men

Bandy is primarily a Scandanavian 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. The Oslo Winter Olympics are the only time that bandy has been a demonstration sport at the Olympics, although in 2001, bandy became an IOC Recognized Sport, so there is some push to have bandy included on the Winter Olympics Program in the future. World Championships were first held in 1957, again in 1961, and then every two years until 2003, at which time the event became an annual one.

In 1952, Sweden was heavily favored to win the demonstration tournament. They had never lost a match against Norway, but in the second match of the tournament, Norway pulled a big upset by scoring the first two goals of the match and winning 2-1. Sweden easily defeated Finland 4-0 in the final match of the tournament, and won the event on goal differential.