1924 Winter Olympics

The 1924 Winter Olympics, officially known as the I Olympic Winter Games, were held in 1924 in Chamonix, France. Originally called Semaine des Sports d'Hiver ("International Winter Sports Week") and held in association with the 1924 Summer Olympics, the sports competitions held at the foot of Mont Blanc in Chamonix, Haute-Savoie, France between 25 January and 5 February 1924, organised by the French Olympic Committee, were in retrospect designated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the I Olympic Winter Games.

Highlights

Prologue

Although Figure Skating had been an Olympic event in both London and Antwerp, and Ice Hockey had been an event in Antwerp, the wintersports had always been rather limited by the season. In 1921, on the convention of the IOC in Lausanne, there was a call for equality for wintersports, and after much discussion it is decided to organise an "international week of winter sport" in 1924 in Chamonix.

Day 2

The very first gold medal awarded in the Olympic Winter games was won by Charles Jewtraw, in the opening event, the 500 meter speedskating.

Day 4

Sonja Henie, at just eleven years old, skates in the ladies' figure skating competition. Although she finishes last, she becomes popular with fans, and will take the gold at the next three Winter Olympics.

Day 6

Finding himself in a unique situation, the figure skater Gilles Grafström is the first one ever to successfully defend his Summer Olympics title at the Winter Olympics.

Day 8

The Canadian ice-hockey team finished their qualifying round with 4 wins, and had a total score of 104-2 against Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, and Great Britain.

Day 10

Finding themselves in the same situation as Gilles Grafström, the Canadian ice-hockey team is the last ever to successfully defend its Summer Olympics title at the Winter Olympics. Canada would dominate ice hockey in early Olympic competition, winning six of the first seven gold medals awarded.

Epilogue

At the closing of the games a prize was awarded for a sport that didn't lend itself very well for tournaments: Pierre de Coubertin presented a prize for alpinisme to Charles Bruce, the leader of the expedition that tried to climb Mount Everest in 1922.

In 1925, the IOC decided to organize Olympic Winter Games every four years, independent of the Olympic Games proper, and recognized the International Winter Sports Week as the first Olympic Winter games in retrospect.

In 1974 the final medal of Chamonix 1924 was presented. Anders Haugen, who until then had been recorded as finishing fourth in the Ski Jump, received a bronze medal. After fifty years an error had been discovered in the score of Thorleif Haug, winner of the bronze, which caused the two men to change places.

In 2006, the IOC retrospectively awarded medals to the 1924 curling teams. The IOC decided that curling was officially part of the program, after the Glasgow Herald newspaper filed a claim on behalf of the families of the team. ^*

Medals awarded

Medals were awarded in 16 events, and 7 sports. Many sources do not list curling and the military patrol, or list them as demonstration events. However, no such designation was made in 1924. In February 2006 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) ruled that curling was a full part of the olympic program, and have included the medals awarded in the official count.

Bobsleigh
Curling
Figure skating
Ice hockey
Military patrol
Nordic skiing
- Cross-country skiing
- Nordic combined
- Ski jumping
Speed skating

Medal count

(Host nation in bold.)

Norway Finland Austria Switzerland United States Great Britain and Northern Ireland Sweden CanadaFranceBelgium

1924 Winter Olympics medal count
Pos	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
4	7	6	17
4	4	3	11
2	1		3
2		1	3
1	2	1	4
1	1	2	4
1	1		2
1			1
0	0	3	3
0		1	1
		16	16	17	49

(The bronze medal in the ski-jump was counted for both countries.)

External links

1924 Winter Olympics | 1924 Winter Olympics events

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