The Philippines first sent athletes to compete at the Olympic Games in 1924, making it the first Country to compete and win a medal in Southeast Asia. The nation has competed at every Summer Olympic Games since then, except when they participated in the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics. Filipino athletes have also competed at the Winter Olympic Games on four different occasions since 1972. The Philippines is the first nation in the tropics to ever participate in the Winter Olympic Games, who sent two alpine skiers to the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan