The 1940 Winter Olympics, officially known as the V Olympic Winter Games (第五回オリンピック冬季競技大会, Dai Go-kai Orinpikku Tōkikyōgi Taikai) and as Sapporo 1940 (札幌1940), was a planned international multi-sport event scheduled to have been held from 3 to 12 February 1940 in Sapporo, Empire of Japan.

in March 1936, Sapporo was selected to be the host of the fifth edition of the Winter Olympics, scheduled 3–12 February 1940, but Japan gave the Games back to the IOC in July 1938, after the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937.

[1] In June 1939, the IOC gave the 1940 Winter Olympics, now scheduled for 2–11 February, to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, where the previous Games had been held.

[2] On 1 September, Germany invaded Poland, initiating the European theatre of World War II, and the Winter Games were cancelled in November.

[citation needed] St. Moritz later held the first post-war games in 1948, while Cortina d'Ampezzo hosted in 1956.