The

inaugural Winter Olympics The 1924 Winter Olympics, officially known as the I Olympic Winter Games (french: Iers Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Chamonix 1924 ( frp, Chamôni 1924), were a winter multi-sport event which was held in 1924 in Chamonix, France ...

were held in

Chamonix Chamonix-Mont-Blanc ( frp, Chamôni), more commonly known as Chamonix, is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France. It was the site of the first Winter Olympics in 1924. In 2019, it had ...

, France, from 25 January to 4 February 1924. A total of 258 athletes from 16

National Olympic Committee A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games ...

s (NOCs) competed in 16 events across 9 disciplines. Women also took part in these Games, although the only events they were allowed to compete in were the figure skating ladies' singles and pairs. When the Games were held, they were not recognized as the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

but rather as a winter sports week festival. It was not until 1926 that the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

(IOC) officially recognized them as the first Winter Olympics. A total of 104 athletes won medals for their NOCs, but the athletes from

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

and

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

stood out and dominated the Games, winning 17 and 11 medals, respectively. The

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

tied for third place in the count of total medals, with four each. Athletes from 10 of the 16 participating NOCs won at least one medal; eight won at least one gold medal. Many of the athletes who won these medals had already returned to their home countries by the time the medals were awarded, on 5 February, and other participants from their countries had to take the medals to the winning athletes. Finnish speed skater

Clas Thunberg Arnold Clas ("Classe") Robert Thunberg (5 April 1893 – 28 April 1973) was a Finnish speed skater who won five Olympic gold medals – three at the inaugural Winter Olympics held in Chamonix in 1924 (along with a silver and a bronze medal) and t ...

topped the medal count with five medals: three golds, one silver, and one bronze. One of his competitors,

Roald Larsen Roald Morel Larsen (1 February 1898 – 28 July 1959) was a World Champion speed skater from Norway. He was born in Kristiania (now Oslo). Roald Larsen's parents were Hans Jacob Larsen, a glazier born in Kristiania in 1870, and Lydia Larsen, born ...

of Norway, also won five medals, with two silver and three bronze medal-winning performances. The first gold medalist at these Games—and therefore the first gold medalist in Winter Olympic history—was American speed skater

Charles Jewtraw Charles Jewtraw (May 5, 1900 – January 26, 1996) was an American speed skater, who won the first gold medal (in the 500 m) at the first Winter Olympics in 1924; he finished eighth in the 1500 m and 13th in the 5000 m events. Jewtraw won natio ...

. Only one medal change took place after the Games: in the ski jump competition, a marking error deprived American athlete

Anders Haugen Anders Olsen Haugen (October 24, 1888 – April 14, 1984) was a Norwegian-American ski jumper who won four national ski jumping championships. He competed in the 1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix and the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz. An ...

of a bronze medal. Haugen pursued an appeal to the IOC many years after the fact; he was awarded the medal after a 1974 decision in his favor. __NOTOC__

Bobsleigh

Cross-country skiing

Curling

Figure skating

Bundesarchiv Bild 102-11014, Jaross Szabo

Ice hockey

Military patrol

Nordic combined

Ski jumping

Bobsleigh

Cross-country skiing

Curling

Figure skating

Ice hockey

Military patrol

Nordic combined

Ski jumping

Speed skating

Medal leaders

Notes

See also

References

External links