Events started today at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, 1 day before the Opening Ceremony. This is the first time this has happened at the Winter Olympics since 1984, but the 6^th time it has happened overall. The years in which competition started before the Opening Ceremony are as follows:

[table]

Year,Venue,Opening,Events Start

1964,Innsbruck,29 January, 27 January

1968,Grenoble,6 February,4 February

1976,Innsbruck,4 February,3 February

1980,Lake Placid,13 February,12 February

1984,Sarajevo,8 February,7 February

[/table]

Note that in 1964 and 1968, events actually started 2 days before the Opening Ceremony.

This is the first time since 1972 that Winter Olympic events started on a Thursday – it also happened in 1932, 1936, 1952, 1956, and 1960.