Chamonix 1924

Seeing the public’s growing interest in winter sports, plus the success of the ice events at London 1908 and Antwerp 1920, the IOC agreed to the creation of the Olympic Winter Games. In 1922, the IOC chose Chamonix as the first host. This news delighted the French IOC members. However, those from Scandinavian countries feared that this would devalue their Nordic Games. They refused to call the new event the Olympic Winter Games! The title of International Winter Sports Week was chosen as a compromise. It was in 1926, at its Session in Lisbon, that the IOC renamed International Sports Week the 1st Olympic Winter Games. --- Chamonix 1924 - Participants with their country's bobsleigh.

The organisers built a ski jump that allowed athletes to jump over 60 metres, a remarkable feat for the time. There was even room for up to 15,000 spectators! --- Chamonix 1924 - A competitor during the jumping event.

Chamonix can be proud of having built an extremely difficult bobsleigh track for the 1924 Games. It was 1,369.88 metres long, with 19 turns made of natural stones. The stones totalled 893 metres in length! The engineers responsible showed remarkable technical skill. The Des Myrtilles turn, for example, stood over six feet high! --- Chamonix 1924 - The big turn before the finish.

At the heart of the 1924 Chamonix Games was the 36,000 m2 ice complex, the largest in the world at the time. It was granted public interest status by the Presidential Decree of 22 January 1922. The complex had two ice hockey pitches, two figure skating rinks, a 400m speed skating oval, a curling rink, a track for skijoring (skiers towed by horses), a 1,000-seat stand and a sports hall! --- Chamonix 1924 - Andrée & Pierre Brunet (FRA) - Figure skating.

At the end of December 1923, 170 centimetres of snow fell in a single night! Volunteers were drafted in to clear it all off the ice – by hand for the 1924 Games. --- Chamonix 1924 - Snow clearing of the Olympic stadium.