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Originally called Semaine des Sports d'Hiver ("International Winter Sports Week") and held in association with the 1924 Summer Olympics, the sports competitions held at the foot of Mont Blanc in Chamonix, Haute-Savoie, France between 25 January and 5 February 1924, organised by the French Olympic Committee, were in retrospect designated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the I Olympic Winter Games.
HighlightsPrologueAlthough Figure Skating has been an Olympic event in both London and Antwerp, and Ice Hockey has been an event in Antwerp, the wintersports have always been rather limited by the season. In 1921, on the convention of the IOC in Lausanne, there is a call for equallity for wintersports, and after much discussion it is decided to organise an "international week of winter sport" in 1924 in Chamonix. Day 2The very first gold medal awarded in the Olympic Winter games was won by Charles Jewtraw, in the opening event, the 500 meter speedskating. Day 4Though she will not reach higher than the 8th and last place, when the ladies' figureskating event begins a Norwegian female athlete gets a lot of sympathy from the public, since she's barely eleven years old. Her name is Sonja Henie, and for the next three games she'll win the gold in this event. Day 6Finding himselves in a unique situation, the figure skater Gilles Grafström is the first one ever to succesfully defend his Summer Olympics title at the Winter Olympics. Day 8The Canadian ice-hockey team finish their qualifying round with 4 wins, and in total score against Switzerland, Czechoslowakia, Sweden, and Great Britain of 104-2. Day 10Finding themselves in the same situation as Gilles Grafström, the Canadian ice-hockeyers are the last ever to succesfully defend their Summer Olympics title at the winter Olympics. EpilogueAt the closing of the games a prize was awarded for a sport that didn't lend itself very well for tournaments: Pierre de Coubertin presented a prize for alpinisme to Charles Bruce, the leader of the expedition that tried to climb Mount Everest in 1922. In 1925, the IOC decided to organize Olympic Winter Games every four years, independent of the Olympic Games proper, and recognized the International Winter Sports Week as the first Olympic Winter games in retrospect. In 1974 the final medal of Chamonix 1924 was presented. Anders Haugen, who until then had been recorded as finishing fourth in the Ski Jump, received a bronze medal. After fifty years an error had been discovered in the score of Thorleif Haug, winner of the bronze, which caused the two man to change places.
Medals awardedMedals were awarded in 16 events, and 7 sports. Many sources do not list curling and the military patrol, or list them as demonstration events. However, no such designation was made in 1924, nor by the IOC at any time, and many Olympic historians now consider them to be full medal events. Medal count
See alsoExternal links
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