The inaugural Winter Olympics were held in Chamonix, France, from 25 January to 4 February 1924. A total of 258 athletes from 16 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) competed in 16 events across 9 disciplines.[1] Women also participated in these Games, although the only events they were allowed to compete in were the figure skating ladies' singles and pairs.[2] When the Games were held, they were not recognized as the Winter Olympics but as a winter sports week festival. It was not until 1926 that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) officially recognized them as the first Winter Olympics.[1]
104 athletes won medals for their NOCs, but the athletes from Norway and Finland stood out and dominated the Games, winning 17 and 11 medals, respectively. The United States and Great Britain tied for third place in the total number of medals, with four each. Athletes from 10 of the 16 participating NOCs won at least one medal; eight won at least one gold medal.[3] 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.[1]
Finnish speed skater Clas Thunberg topped the medal count with five medals: three golds, one silver, and one bronze. One of his competitors, Roald Larsen of Norway, also won five medals, with two silver and three bronze medal-winning performances.[3] The first gold medalist at these Games—and therefore the first gold medalist in Winter Olympic history—was American speed skater Charles Jewtraw. Only one medal change occurred after the Games: in the ski jump competition, a marking error deprived American athlete Anders Haugen 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.[1]
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See also: Bobsleigh at the 1924 Winter Olympics.
See also: Cross-country skiing at the 1924 Winter Olympics.
See also: Curling at the 1924 Winter Olympics.
| Men's team | T. S. Robertson-Aikman William Jackson Robin Welsh Thomas Murray Alternates: Laurence Jackson John McLeod William Brown Delaval Astley R. Cousin | valign=top | II Johan Petter Åhlén Carl Axel Pettersson Karl Wahlberg | Henri Cournollet Pierre Canivet Armand Bénédic Georges André Alternates: Henri Aldebert Robert Planque |
| I Carl Wilhelm Petersén Ture Ödlund Victor Wetterström Erik Severin Alternates: Carl August Kronlund Carl Wilhelm Petersén |
See also: Figure skating at the 1924 Winter Olympics.
See also: Ice hockey at the 1924 Winter Olympics.
| Men's team | valign=top | Jack Cameron Ernie Collett Bert McCaffrey Harold McMunn Dunc Munro Beattie Ramsay Cyril Slater Hooley Smith Harry Watson | valign=top | Clarence Abel Herbert Drury Alphonse Lacroix John Langley John Lyons Justin McCarthy Willard Rice Irving Small Frank Synott | William Anderson Lorne Carr-Harris Colin Carruthers Eric Carruthers Guy Clarkson Ross Cuthbert Geoffrey Holmes Hamilton Jukes Edward Pitblado Blane Sexton |
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See also: Military patrol at the 1924 Winter Olympics.
| Military patrol | Adolf Aufdenblatten Alphonse Julen Antoine Julen Denis Vaucher | August Eskelinen Heikki Hirvonen Martti Lappalainen Väinö Bremer | Adrien "André" Vandelle Camille Mandrillon Georges Berthet Maurice Mandrillon |
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See also: Nordic combined at the 1924 Winter Olympics.
| Men's individual |
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See also: Ski jumping at the 1924 Winter Olympics.
| Men's individual [7] |
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See also: Speed skating at the 1924 Winter Olympics.
Athletes who won multiple medals are listed below.[8]
| Athlete | Nation | Sport | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Speed skating | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| Cross-country skiing and Nordic combined | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| Speed skating | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||
| Speed skating | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | ||
| Cross-country skiing and Nordic combined | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Cross-country skiing and Nordic combined | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||