France's Other Olympic Centennial

This summer, the Olympics return to Paris for the third time...exactly 100 years since the city last hosted the Games.  That anniversary is, obviously, very important to the French.  And rightfully so.  It isn't the only Olympic centennial worth celebrating in 2024, though.  January 25, 2024 marks 100 years since the Opening Ceremony of the inaugural Winter Olympics, held in the French Alps town of Chamonix. 

They weren't even referred to as the "Winter Olympics" at the time.  It was called the "International Winter Sports Week."  The event was such a success that the IOC decided in 1925 to officially organize both Summer AND Winter Olympics, with the Chamonix Games retroactively declared the first Winter Games.  "Retroactive" is a word that would later be applied to the allocation of medals in two different events many, many years later.

In the ski jumping competition, the bronze medal was initially awarded to Norway's Thorleif Haug.  However, it was discovered in 1974 that Haug's score had been determined incorrectly and American Anders Haugen, who finished fourth, had actually scored 0.095 points higher than him.  The IOC confirmed the error and Haugen was presented his bronze medal by Haug's daughter 50 years after the competition.  It's still the only Olympic ski jumping medal ever won by an American.

The curling competition, meanwhile, featured teams from Great Britain, France and Sweden playing a round-robin tournament, with the Brits taking gold.  It was Great Britain's only gold medal in Chamonix, but was considered unofficial for many years, since curling was thought to be a demonstration sport.  Finally, in 2006, the IOC ruled that the 1924 curling tournament was an official Olympic event.

Including curling, there were only 16 medal events in Chamonix.  They weren't the first Olympic medals ever awarded in winter sports, however.  There was a hockey tournament at the 1920 Summer Games in Antwerp, with Canada winning the gold.  The Canadians defended their title by absolutely dominating the competition in Chamonix, winning all six of their games and outscoring their opponents 99-3.

Figure skating, meanwhile, had been contested at two previous Summer Games.  The first figure skating events were held in 1908, and the second Olympic figure skating competition took place in 1920.  Sweden's Gillis Grafstrom won the gold medal that year.  Like the Canadian hockey team, he'd go on to defend his Olympic title in Chamonix...and win a third four years later in St. Moritz.  He remains the only man ever to win three straight Olympic gold medals in men's figure skating.

There were only a handful of women competing in Chamonix, all of whom were figure skaters entered in the ladies' and pairs events.  The ladies singles champion was Austria's Herma Szabo.  The most significant name in the competition might've been the last-place finisher, though.  Sonja Henie was just 11 years old at the time.  Four years later, a 15-year-old Henie won her first of three straight Olympic gold medals in the event.  After the 1936 Olympics, she retired from skating and began an acting career that would see her become one of the highest-paid stars in Hollywood.

Every event, including figure skating and hockey, was held outdoors, in the elements, at the foot of Mount Blanc.  Most of them were held at the Olympic Stadium, which still stands.  The first of those events was the 500 meters in speed skating.  The gold medal went to American Charles Jewtraw.  Twenty-eight years after another American--James Connolly--won the triple jump in Athens to become the first-ever gold medalist in the history of the Modern Olympics, Jewtraw became the first Winter Olympic champion.  It was the only gold medal for the United States in Chamonix.

Norway and Finland led the way with four gold medals apiece, and the Norwegians authored the only two medal sweeps.  The same three men, in fact, finished in the exact same order in both the 50 kilometer cross country race (which is still one of the marquee events on the Winter Olympic program) and the Nordic combined competition.  Thorleif Haug (the same Haug who was originally awarded the bronze in ski jumping) won both gold medals, followed by Thoralf Stromstad (silver) and Johan Grottumsbraten (bronze).

Finnish speed skater Clas Thunberg was by far the most successful athlete at the Games.  He won a medal in all five events--three gold, a silver and a bronze.  Norway's Roald Larsen also went 5-for-5 in speed skating medals, winning two silver and three bronze.  (This feat of medaling in every speed skating event was equaled by Eric Heiden in 1980.  Heiden, however, won five golds.)  Finland's Julius Skutnabb also won three medals, so 13 of the 16 speed skating medals were split between the three (Thunberg and Larsen tied for bronze in the 500).

While Norway and Finland dominated the medal count, 10 of the 16 participating nations took home at least one medal, including eight that earned at least one gold.  The total number of competitors is a subject of debate, but the IOC's figure is 258 total athletes, so we'll go with that.  They contested 16 medal events in nine sports, one of which would never be on the Winter Olympic program again after Chamonix.

Much like the curling tournament, the military patrol competition is incorrectly considered unofficial or a demonstration event by many sources.  The IOC considers it a separate discipline, while the 1924 Official Report lists it as an event within the sport of skiing.  Regardless, Switzerland's four-man team took the gold over Finland and France (it was France's only medal).  Military patrol would return as a demonstration sport three times (1928, 1936, 1948), but was never again an official medal event.  Eventually, military patrol became biathlon, which has been a part of the Winter Olympics since 1960.

I didn't know this until I started researching this post, but there's a Twitter/X account called "Chamonix 1924" that's dedicated entirely to these inaugural Winter Olympics.  The account was only active six years ago, but it's incredible!  Whoever ran it did an outstanding job, and you can see the level of care that was put in.  There are even photos and news clippings (in French!) from the actual event in 1924.  I highly recommend checking it out!

Later this year, we'll rightly celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 1924 Summer Games when the Olympics return to Paris.  It's the competition held several months earlier that turned out to be much more historically significant, however.  A century ago in Chamonix, France, the Winter Olympics were born.