The Athletes of the First Winter Olympics
What skaters, ski jumpers, and curlers looked like in 1924.
Much has changed since the first Winter Olympics were held in Chamonix, France, in 1924. The “International Winter Sports Week” featured about 250 athletes participating in 16 events across six sports, including the usual suspects like figure skating, bobsled, and ice hockey, as well as a military patrol competition. (The military event was won, strangely, by the Swiss.) Competitors’ attire was less slick and aerodynamic than we see today, with the look perhaps best described as Great Gatsby on Ice. Check out the best winter sportsmen of the 1920s in our collection of images from Chamonix.
Speedskaters at the starting line.
Photos via Chamonix 1924 Official Olympic Report
The Swedish and British curling teams.
Photos via Chamonix 1924 Official Olympic Report
Three members of the Swedish curling team taking a break to have a drink.
Photos via Chamonix 1924 Official Olympic Report
Clearing snow at the Olympic stadium.
Photos via Chamonix 1924 Official Olympic Report
An ice hockey team.
Photos via Chamonix 1924 Official Olympic Report
Jacob Tullin Thams of Norway, gold medalist in ski jumping.
Photo via Chamonix 1924 Official Olympic Report
Norway's Sonja Henie finished eighth (out of eight) in figure skating in Chamonix. She was just 11 years old. Henie would go on to win gold in 1928, 1932, and 1936.
Chamonix 1924 Official Olympic Report
Andrée Joly and Pierre Brunet won bronze in pairs figure skating in Chamonix before taking gold in 1928 and 1932. The French couple got married in 1929.
Photos via Chamonix 1924 Official Olympic Report
Julius Skutnabb and Clas Thunberg of Finland won a combined eight speedskating medals in Chamonix.
Photo via Chamonix 1924 Official Olympic Report
Competitors in the bobsled.
Photo via Chamonix 1924 Official Olympic Report
The silver-medal-winning British bobsled team.
Chamonix 1924 Official Olympic Report
Spectators and the official stand.
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