The Winter Olympics get underway in Beijing on February 2, with a record 109 events taking place across seven sports in China.
The build up has been marred by political posturing, with several countries refusing to send government delegations to the Games, including the UK, the US and Japan.
There is also concern over possible protests on podiums, which the IOC has tried to ban, with plenty of possible flashpoints in the making over the next month.
Usually, however, the talking points are on the ice and snow, and over the course of the Games there will still be plenty of wonderful sport and moments that go down in history, just like these incredible moments from over the years...
'Superstar housewives' end 18-year wait for gold - 2002For 18 years, the Great British public had been starved of a gold medal success to cheer at the Winter Olympics. Step forward Rhona Martin and her team of all-star, all-Scottish curlers.
An incredible 5.7million people tuned in to watch their final against Switzerland, with the five-women team clinching gold with the last throw.
Dubbed the 'superstar housewives', captain Martin insisted that the newfound fame wouldn't go to her head.
'I'll still be a housewife, a mother of two from Dunlop in Ayrshire, that will not change. It's a small village,' she quipped. Although there was nothing small about this achievement.
Rhona Martin and her Great Britain curling team won gold at the Salt Lake City games in 2002
Michael Edwards in action in Calgary, 1988
If there is one name synonymous with the Winter Olympics in the UK, it belongs to this man.
Very few could probably tell you his actual birth name, but Michael Edwards soared into the hearts and minds of a nation when he secured his place at the 1988 Games in Canada.
He finished dead last in both the 70-metre and 90-metre ski jumping events, miles behind those in the penultimate places. But it was the taking part that meant the world to the man from Cheltenham.
His appearance actually forced the IOC to introduce a rule to prevent others taking a leaf out of his book. His experience, therefore, really was one of kind.
There was even a movie made about his efforts, starring Hugh Jackman, in 2015 - a common theme among top Winter Olympic moments.
'Eddie the Eagle' became a cult hero when he qualified for the 1988 Winter Olympics
When telling a David versus Goliath story, you don't usually expect to be describing the United States as the former.
However, this was the case in the men's ice hockey medal-round match at the 1980 Olympics Game in Lake Placid.
The Soviet Union, a team made up largely of professionals, were looking to secure their sixth Olympic gold medal in seven outings. The US team, the youngest at the Olympics, led by Herb Brooks and largely made of amateurs, were hugely unfavoured.
It mattered little. A 4-3 victory produced the biggest upset in ice hockey history as the US won in front of a home crowd.
The gold medal wasn't actually secured until two days later, when they beat Finland, but this was the match they are remembered for.
The USA's victory over the Soviet Union at the 1980 Games was dubbed the Miracle on Ice
Another moment enshrined on the big screen, Jamaica's bobsleigh team caused a stir when competing at the 1988 Games in Canada.
The brainchild of one bright spark at the American embassy in Kingston, George B. Fitch is credited with coming up with the idea of transferring the power of Jamaican athletes into propelling a sled.
After qualifying, the team entered two events, but it was the four-man team that caught the imagination of those watching around the world.
After mistakes condemned their first two runs, the third got off to a flying start and had the Jamaicans going toe-to-toe with the top 10 teams in the competition. However, the anticipation was cut short by a crash, the enduring image of the plucky foursome one of them pushing their bobsleigh over the line themselves, although not quite as heroically as in the film, where they held the bob aloft on their shoulders.
