1924 Winter Olympics

The 1924 Winter Olympics, officially known as the I Olympic Winter Games (French: I^ers Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly called Chamonix 1924 (Arpitan: Chamôni 1924), were the first big winter sports event organized by many countries. They happened in Chamonix, France, from January 25 to February 5, 1924. Even though people didn’t call them the “Winter Olympics” at the time, later the International Olympic Committee decided to name them the first Winter Olympic Games.

Before this, winter sports like figure skating and ice hockey had been part of the regular Olympics, but only in places where it was warm enough for summer sports. In 1921, leaders of the Olympics decided it was time to give winter sports equal attention. They chose France, which was already planning the 1924 Summer Olympics, to host a special week of winter sports in the snowy mountains of Chamonix.

The games included many exciting activities such as skiing, skating, and ice hockey. Even though climbing mountains wasn’t an official event, leaders gave special awards to a team of climbers who had tried to reach the top of Mount Everest just two years before. The 1924 Winter Olympics started a tradition that continues today, bringing together athletes from around the world to compete in cold-weather sports.

Highlights

Charles Jewtraw from the United States won the very first gold medal at these games in the 500-meter speed skate, becoming the first Winter Olympic champion.

Sonja Henie from Norway, only eleven years old, competed in ladies' figure skating. Even though she finished last, she became very popular and later won gold in the next three Winter Olympics.

Figure skater Gillis Grafström from Sweden was the first athlete to keep his gold medal from the Summer Olympics and win again at the Winter Olympics.

The Canadian ice hockey team, the Toronto Granites, won all their games in the qualifying round with very high scores.

Taffy Abel was an Indigenous Ojibwe ice hockey player. He was the first Native American to compete in the Winter Olympic Games and carried the flag for the United States at the 1924 Winter Olympics.

For the first time, the host country, France, did not win any gold medals, only finishing with three bronze medals.

Events

The 1924 Winter Olympics had many fun sports for athletes to compete in! There were 16 different events in 5 main sports, with 9 different types of competitions. Some people were unsure if curling and military patrol should count as official events, but later they were added to the official list.

Here’s a quick look at the sports and events:

• Bobsleigh (1 event) (details)
• Curling (1 event) (details)
• Ice hockey (1 event) (details)
• Skating
  • Figure skating (3 events) (details)
  • Speed skating (5 events) (details)
• Nordic skiing (details)
  • Military patrol (1 event) (details)
  • Cross-country skiing (2 events) (details)
  • Nordic combined (1 event) (details)
  • Ski jumping (1 event) (details)

Venues

Main article: Venues of the 1924 Winter Olympics

The 1924 Winter Olympics took place in several special spots in Chamonix, France. These places were used for different sports.

One spot, La Piste de Bobsleigh des Pellerins, was where athletes raced down icy tracks in bobsleighs. Another, Le Tremplin Olympique du Mont, was for ski jumping and a sport called Nordic combined. The big stadium, Stade Olympique de Chamonix, hosted many events like cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, ice hockey, and speed skating.

Participating nations

Athletes from 16 nations competed in the first Winter Olympic Games. Germany was not allowed to join, so they held their own event called the Deutsche Kampfspiele.

• Estonia had a speed skater named Christfried Burmeister who planned to join, but the organizers never got the message that he withdrew.

Participating National Olympic Committees
Austria (4)  Belgium (18)  Canada (12)  Czechoslovakia (27)  Finland (17)  France (43) (host)  Great Britain (44)  Hungary (4)  Italy (23)  Latvia (2)  Norway (14)  Poland (7)  Sweden (31)  Switzerland (30)  United States (24)  Yugoslavia (4)

Medal count

Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the IOC and a key figure in the modern Olympics, gave out 21 gold medals to members of the 1922 British Mount Everest Expedition. These medals went to 12 Britons, 7 Indians, 1 Australian, and 1 Nepalese. Only the gold medal from 1924 is counted in the Winter Olympics database for the Mixed team. The medals from 1932 and 1936 are counted for the Summer Olympics instead.

**   Host nation (France)

Podium sweeps

1924 Winter Olympics medal table

Rank	NOC	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Norway	4	7	6	17
2	Finland	4	4	3	11
3	Austria	2	1	0	3
4	Switzerland	2	0	1	3
5	United States	1	2	1	4
6	Great Britain	1	1	2	4
7	Sweden	1	1	0	2
8	Canada	1	0	0	1
	Mixed team	1	0	0	1
10	France*	0	0	3	3
11	Belgium	0	0	1	1
Totals (11 entries)		17	16	17	50

Date	Sport	Event	NOC	Gold	Silver	Bronze
30 January	Cross-country skiing	Men's 50 kilometre	Norway	Thorleif Haug	Thoralf Strømstad	Johan Grøttumsbråten
4 February	Nordic combined	Normal hill	Norway	Thorleif Haug	Thoralf Strømstad	Johan Grøttumsbråten