Chamonix hosts the world’s first Winter Olympics, uniting nations on snow and ice

Story: 1924 C.E.  |  Last updated: January 25, 1924

On a mountain stage unlike anything the Olympic movement had attempted before, athletes from 16 nations gathered in the French Alps in January 1924 C.E. to race, skate, ski, and slide — launching what would become one of the most watched sporting events on Earth.

What the evidence shows

• Winter Olympics Chamonix: The 1924 C.E. games were initially called “International Winter Sports Week” but were retroactively designated as the first Winter Olympics by the IOC in 1925 C.E., making Chamonix the official birthplace of the Winter Games.
• First gold medal: American speed skater Charles Jewtraw won the inaugural Winter Olympic gold medal in the 500-meter speed skate — the first gold ever awarded at a Winter Games.
• Nordic dominance: Athletes from Finland and Norway alone won 28 medals, more than all other competing nations combined, reflecting decades of winter sports tradition in Scandinavia.

A long road to the mountain

The idea of a dedicated winter competition had been circulating in Olympic circles for more than two decades before Chamonix. As early as 1901 C.E., General Viktor Gustaf Balck organized the Nordic Games in Stockholm, Sweden — a precursor competition that championed skiing and skating as serious athletic pursuits. Balck, a founding member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and close friend of Olympic founder Baron Pierre de Coubertin, spent years lobbying to bring winter sports into the Olympic fold.

Figure skating broke through first. At the 1908 C.E. Summer Olympics in London, four figure skating events were contested — an unusual addition to a summer program. But a fully separate winter event faced resistance, particularly from Scandinavian organizers who feared it would overshadow the Nordic Games and dilute the prestige they had carefully built.

A winter sports week was planned for the canceled 1916 C.E. Berlin Games, and winter events appeared at the 1920 C.E. Antwerp Summer Olympics. Momentum was building. Finally, France — as host of the 1924 C.E. Summer Olympics — was asked to organize a separate winter gathering. Chamonix, a mountain town already famous for alpinism, was chosen to host 11 days of events in January and February of that year.

Eleven days that changed sport

More than 250 athletes competed across 16 events spanning bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, Nordic skiing, figure skating, and speed skating. The setting was spectacular, the competition fierce, and the attendance — over 10,000 spectators — exceeded expectations for what was still officially billed as a “sports week.”

Among the most memorable moments: an 11-year-old Sonja Henie of Norway competed in ladies’ figure skating. She finished last. But her presence signaled the beginning of one of sport’s great careers — she would return to win gold at the 1928 C.E. and 1932 C.E. games. Sweden’s Gillis Grafström defended his 1920 C.E. figure skating gold, becoming the first athlete to win gold medals at both Summer and Winter Olympics.

Germany, still banned from Olympic competition in the aftermath of World War I, did not compete. The exclusion was a reminder that even the opening chapter of the Winter Olympics carried the weight of political history.

Lasting impact

The Chamonix games established a template that would expand across a century. The original five sports — bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, Nordic skiing, and skating — have been joined over the decades by alpine skiing, snowboarding, freestyle skiing, biathlon, luge, skeleton, and short track speed skating. What began as 16 events is now well over 100.

The Winter Olympics also gave the world a venue to watch nations compete peacefully, even during periods of serious geopolitical tension. The games have been hosted on three continents, by 13 countries, from Norway to Japan to South Korea to China. Norway leads the all-time Winter Olympics medal count, followed by the United States and Germany.

The decision in 1986 C.E. to stagger the Summer and Winter Olympics onto separate four-year cycles — taking effect after the 1992 C.E. games — meant the Winter Olympics would occupy its own distinct place on the global calendar, no longer sharing a year with the Summer Games. That shift increased visibility and gave each event room to grow.

Today, the Winter Olympics reach billions of viewers worldwide. The International Olympic Committee governs both games under the Olympic Charter, a framework that continues to evolve to reflect changing ideas about inclusion, fairness, and the role of sport in public life.

Blindspots and limits

The early Winter Olympics were a deeply Eurocentric affair — hosted exclusively in Europe and North America for their first several decades, and dominated by nations with the infrastructure and resources to train elite winter athletes. The retroactive designation of Chamonix as the “first” Winter Olympics in 1925 C.E. was itself an institutional decision, one that erased the independent significance of the Nordic Games and other precursor traditions that had cultivated winter sport in Scandinavia for generations.

Women’s participation was minimal at Chamonix, and would remain limited for decades. And winter sports — requiring snow, mountains, ice rinks, and expensive equipment — have historically favored wealthier nations, a structural inequality the Olympic movement continues to grapple with today.

Read more

For more on this story, see: Wikipedia: Winter Olympic Games

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