A History of the Winter Olympics 1924 - 2010

The First Winter Olympics : Chamonix 1924

The idea of holding ice based sports at the Olympics wasn't quite the innovation people think it is. There was a figure skating medal awarded in London 1908 and Antwerp 1920, and so the idea of a Winter Olympics began to get some momentum, however as the IOC didn't confirm Winter Olympic status until 1925, the 1924 event was termed "The International Winter Sports Week" (but was granted it's offical title of the first Winter Olympics in 1925).

Sixteen nations entered the stadium in the French town of Chamonix and from January 24th until February 5th proved the idea of a Winter Olympics was not just viable, but was a great draw for spectators. Medals were awarded in Nordic Skiing, Figure Skating, Speed Skating, Bobsleigh and Ice Hockey and by the end of the week one thing was clear, Scandanvia were the kings of the Ice.

Top Medalists at Chamonix 1924
1) Clas Thunberg (FIN) winning 3 golds, 1 silver , 1 bronze in Speed Skating
2) Thorleif Hang (NOR) winning 3 golds in Nordic Skiing
3) Julius Skutnabb (FIN) winning 1 golds, 1 silver , 1 bronze in Speed Skating

I like the idea of sports. People participating in strenuous exercise. Good activities. But people standing or sitting around watching kinda remind me of inmates in an asylum staring out the windows.

reminds you of home eh.........

The Second Winter Olympics : St. Moritz 1928

Following the success of the 1924 Winter Games, people were looking forward to St. Moritz in Switzerland, however the weather was not about to play ball. No sooner had the opening ceremony finished than a thaw set in (to such a degree that during the 50km Cross County Skiing race although the start of the race saw temperatures at 0°C (32°F) by the time the race was over temperatures had reached 19°C (66°F). That led to the cancellation of the 10,000m Speed Skating and only two of the four runs in the bobsleigh competition were completed. Thankfully though the weather did not affect the famous Cresta Run and it was down that most ice run that skeleton bob made it's first Olympic appearance

Top Meddalists at St. Mortiz 1928
Joint 1) Johan Grottumsbraaten (NOR) and Clas Thunberg (FIN) with 2 golds in Nordic Skiing and Speed Skating
3) Brent Everson (NOR) with 1 gold 1 silver and 1 bronze in Speed Skating

How many of you people know that the history of parading the olympic flame across the country started with Hitler and his nazis in Germany?

You've jumped the gun a little there. I was going to mention that tomorrow as part of the summary of the third Winter Olympics in Germany.

The Third Winter Olympics : Lake Placid 1932

It was less than three years after the Wall Street Crash and in the midst of the Great Depression that the Winter Olympic Flame made it's way into the United States so it was no great suprise that the number of athletes was less than in Switzerland four years earlier, and that 55% of them came from the United States or Canada. Add to that another bad spell of weather (leading to the Games finishing 48 hours late) and you can see why people were wondering if the Winter Olympics had a future.

With home snow (or in theis case slush) advantage, it was no suprise to see the United States topping the medals table (in fact the Americans swept the speed skating and the bobsleigh events) but that didn't prevent the Norweigans, Austrians and French winning ice skating medals and the Nordic nations winning the Noridc events

Top Medalists at Lake Placid 1932
Joint 1) John Shea (USA) and Irving Jaffee (USA) who both won 2 golds in speed skating
3) Veli Saarinen (FIN) winning 1 gold and 1 bronze in Nordic Skiing

The Fourth Winter Olympics : Garmisch Partenkirchen 1936

The first of a double header of German Olympics were held in the light of the election of Adolf Hitler as German Chancellor in 1933 and as such became a byword for propoganda (even the poster advertising the Games suggested a Nazi salute) and the tradition of the Olympic Torch Relay was started up for these Games.When the Games started only German pohtographers were allowed to take pictures (and even then only "suitable" pictures were actually published).

So was the Winter Olympics the same as the Summer Games where Jesse Ownens broke the image of an Ayran superstate? Indeed they were, the top of the medals table was not occupied by Germany but by Norway (who won 2½ times the number of German medals) with Sweden only a gold below sending the home team into third place!

Top Medallists in Garmisch 1932
1) Ivar Ballangrud (NOR) who won 3 golds and a silver in Speed Skating
2) Oddbjorn Hagen (NOR) who won 1 gold and 2 silvers in Nordic Skiing
3) Ernst Baier (GER) who won 1 gold and a silver in Figure Skating
4) Erik-August Larsson (SWE) who won 1 gold and a bronze in Nordic Skiing

As the Games closed with a spectactular firework display over the ski jumping arena, the vow to continue the Games in 1940 was duly made, but as we know events overtook that plan and the Olympic Flame was not to burn over a Winter Olympics for another 12 years

how do i get more info on history of winter olympics
any sites?

Winter Olympic Games - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Winter Olympic Games – Winter Olympics, Winter Olympiad, History of Winter Olympic Games

with the climate change pretty soon there won't be a winter olympics