The First Winter Olympics Of 1924

The first Winter Olympics took place January 25, 1924 in the French Alps, at Chamonix. The International Olympic Committee officially dubbed the games “International Sports Week.”

The First Winter Olympics

The first Winter Olympic Games featured 12 events and over 10,000 paying patrons cheered on competitors. Norway took home the most medals of the Games, winning 17.

The first medal went to American Charles Jewtraw. Jewtraw won gold in the first event, the 500m speed skating competition. The United States took home four medals, while Finland won a total of 11. France, the host country, won just three bronze medals.

Very few women competed in the first Winter Olympics. History Channel says that of the nearly 300 athletes competing, only 13 were female. The only event that women competed in was figure skating.

Controversy At The Games

Even the first Winter Olympic Games had its share of controversy. Due to a “marking error,” American Anders Haugen had to wait 50 years to receive his bronze medal in the ski jumping event. When finally awarded his bronze medal in 1974, Haugen was 83 years old.

The medal awarded to Haugen was not the last medal awarded for the 1924 Winter Olympics. In February 2006, the 1924 Great Britain curling team became officially recognized as gold medal winners. The BBC says, “The International Olympic Committee upgraded the golds won by the 1924 men’s curling team from demonstration medals to official status.”

Planning The Olympic Games

In 1911, the International Olympic Committee proposed a “Winter Sports Week,” separate from the 1912 Stockholm Games. However, Sweden declined the proposal. When World War I started, Germany’s proposal for a Winter Olympics got scrapped. Germany was banned from the official first Winter Olympics Games because of WWI.

The Scandinavian countries finally agreed to the IOC-sanctioned International Sports Week, subsequently renamed the Winter Olympics. The IOC retroactively made the 1924 Games the First Winter Olympics.

How Medals Were Presented

If you watch the Winter Olympics now, you can watch the medalists step to the podium and receive their medals very shortly after winning their event. The medal presentations at the first Winter Olympics did not occur so quickly. In fact, the IOC says that the medal presentation did not take place until February 5, at the close of the Winter Games. Many of the medal winners went home prior to the closing ceremony. The International Olympics Committee presented the medals to other team members.

The Games Then And Now

In 2014, at the XXII Winter Games held at Sochi, the IOC reports that “a record number” of athletes competed. More than 2800 athletes competed and 40 percent of the athletes were women.

Over one million tickets were sold for the Sochi 2014 Games, compared to the slightly over 10,000 sold for the first Winter Olympics.

Six countries participated in the Winter Games for the first time.

Several activities took place that were unheard of in 1924, including the performing of over 2500 “doping tests.” Additionally, over seven million “followers” followed The Games on Facebook and more than four billion people watched the 2014 Winter Olympics Games on TV and digital platforms.