Cold facts and cool stories

To many people's surprise, Monti and his teammates went on to win gold medals in both events four years later at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France, cementing the legend of the generous athlete.

The 341-page From Chamonix to Beijing, co-created by Gerard Schaller, a former senior journalist from the French sports newspaper L'Equipe, Vincent Laudet, former president of Editions Prolongations, L'Equipe, and two senior journalists from Titan Sports in China－Zhao Wei and Yuan Zu, contains many such Winter Olympics legends and stories, dating back to the first event, which was held in Chamonix, France, in 1924. In addition, the book features information, such as medal tables, an overall review of each edition of the Winter Games, anecdotes and a trove of photos from the Olympic archives.

"The book provides detailed data that can help readers to learn about the development and trends of winter sports around the world," said Cao Yaqi, deputy editor-in-chief of Titan Sports, at a livestreamed book event in Beijing last month.

For example, Norway has got the most medals in history, but the United States is the only country that has won gold medals in all Winter Olympics. Central European countries started a "winter sports week" in the 1910s but Nordic countries started as early as in the 1880s, said Cao.