History
Fast Facts
Host City: Chamonix, FranceOpening date: Jan. 25, 1924
Closing date: Feb. 4, 1924
Nations: 16
Athletes: 258 (245 Men, 13 Women)
14 events in 5 sports
With the agreement from the International Olympic Committee that its 11-day winter sports festival could be called an "Olympic winter carnival," the little winter resort town of Chamonix invested 3.5 million francs building a bobsled run and an ice rink, as well as improving an existing ski jump.
The festival drew 258 athletes from 16 countries to compete in bobsledding, figure skating, hockey, Nordic skiing, and speed skating. Biathlon, under its alias of "military ski patrol," was offered as a demonstration sport.
Charles Jewtraw of the United States won the first gold medal, in 500-meter speed skating, but the festival's hero was Clas Thunberg of Finland. He won five medals, three of them gold, in speed skating. All told, Norway and Finland won 27 medals.
Weather has often been a major story at the Winter Olympics, and it began at Chamonix. The festival opened with rain and unseasonably warm temperatures that turned snow and ice to slush. Then temperatures dropped as far as 25 below zero and the slush became ice.
Despite the weather, more than 10,000 spectators showed up. At its annual meeting in 1925, the IOC retroactively recognized the Chamonix festival as the first Winter Olympics and decided that Winter Games would be held every four years, as with the Summer Olympics.
