Winter Games Begin: Chamonix Hosts First Olympics

Two hundred and fifty-eight athletes from 16 nations marched through the Alpine town of Chamonix, France, for what was officially called "International Winter Sports Week." Nobody called it the Olympics at the time. Only retroactively, in 1926, did the International Olympic Committee designate the January 25 - February 5, 1924 event as the first Olympic Winter Games—a compromise that nearly didn''t happen. The idea of winter Olympic competition had been fiercely opposed by Scandinavian nations, particularly Sweden and Norway, which hosted the Nordic Games and feared losing their monopoly on international winter sport. Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, had proposed winter events as early as 1911 but was blocked repeatedly. The 1924 gathering was deliberately given a neutral name to appease the Nordic countries, who agreed to participate only because the event was presented as a one-off demonstration. The games featured 16 events across six sports: bobsled, curling, ice hockey, military patrol, skating (figure and speed), and skiing (cross-country and ski jumping). Norway dominated, winning 17 medals. Finland''s Clas Thunberg became the first Winter Games star, winning five speed skating medals. Figure skater Sonja Henie, just 11 years old, competed for Norway and finished last—but she would return to win gold at the next three Winter Olympics. Canada''s ice hockey team outscored its opponents 110-3 across five games. The "Sports Week" proved so popular that the IOC faced pressure to make it permanent. When the retroactive designation came in 1926, it established a tradition that has grown into one of the world''s premier sporting events. Chamonix''s modest gathering of 258 athletes has expanded to over 2,900 competitors at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games. The Alpine town beneath Mont Blanc, which hosted the games with wooden grandstands and natural ice, became the unlikely birthplace of a global institution worth billions of dollars.