The XXII Olympic Winter Games (or 22nd Winter Olympics), takes place during February 2014 in the Russian city of Sochi. However, 90 years beforehand, the first ever Winter Olympics was staged in the alpine region of Chamonix, France in the shadow of the towering Mont Blanc.
Some 90 nations taking an excess of 2,500 athletes will soon descend upon the Russian city, competing in numerous winter sporting disciplines, all to be followed a month later by the XI Paralympic Winter games at the same location. All of this is a far cry from the first winter games held back in January 1924, when only 258 competitors from just 16 nations competed in 18 events.
The competing nations in Chamonix were hosts France, Belgium, Austria, Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Canada and the United States. They took part in events such as Bobsleigh, Curling, Ice Hockey, Speed Skating, Figure Skating and Nordic Skiing. It was not the first time that supposed winter sports had taken place at an Olympiad. Figure Skating had been contested in the Summer Games at London (1908) and also at Antwerp (1920), and the Belgian city had also included Ice Hockey on its program.
After an International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting in Lausanne in 1921, there was a call for winter sports to gain parity with their summer cousins which, after much discussion, became an "International Winter Sports Week," held in association with the Paris Summer Games, to be staged at Chamonix.
The opening ceremonies took place on January 25th and a day later the action got underway with American Charlie Jewtraw gaining success in the 500 meter speed skating event. The games however were dominated by Finland and Norway winning 28 of the 43 available medals between them. Speed skater Clas Thunberg of Finland took 3 gold medals whilst Norwegian Thorleif Haug also pocketed 3 golds for cross-country and Nordic skiing.
The host nation, France, failed to win any gold medals, ending up with just 3 bronze medals (the first time this had happened in the history of the modern Olympics), whilst the USA and Great Britain won 4 medals each. Top of the medals table were Finland and Norway with 4 golds each, whilst Austria and Switzerland both won 2.
It took until 1974 for the final medal to be awarded. Some 50 years after the athletes had gone home, it was found that Ski-jumper and captain of the American team Anders Haugen, who had been recorded as finishing 4th at the time of the event, should have been placed in 3rd. This emerged after a mathematical error on the score of the aforementioned Thorleif Haug came to light, moving the Norwegian born American competitor up a place.
The 1st Games was classed as an overall success, causing the IOC to decide in 1925 to organize an Olympic Winter Games to take place every 4 years, independently of its Summer equivalent. At the same time the Chamonix event was retrospectively decreed as the first Olympic Winter Games.