The Winter Olympics will take place for the 25th time in 2026. Hundreds of thousands now attend the Winter Olympics. But in 1924 the major sporting event started in Chamonix, France, with just nine sporting disciplines and 258 athletes – without German participation.
“I declare open these Chamonix Winter Games, which take place on the occasion of the VIII Olympiad.” With these words the French politician and Undersecretary of State Gaston Vidal announced the start of the International Winter Sports Week in the small town of Chamonix on January 25, 1924. So far, the sleepy town has been particularly popular with summer mountaineers, but now over the next twelve days 258 athletes from 16 countries will compete for medals in various winter sports disciplines at the foot of Mont Blanc. The sporting event was created as an appendix and prelude to the major Summer Olympics in Paris and was only officially named the first Winter Olympics two years later.
When it came to deciding on the venue, Chamonix came out on top. The French National Olympic Committee used the newly built train station in Chamonix as a decisive argument, which would enable comfortable travel. The plan worked: around 10,000 visitors attended the winter sports week. Nine sports disciplines were on the program: speed skating opened, followed by figure skating, curling, cross-country skiing, four-man bobsleigh, ice hockey, ski jumping, Nordic combined (ski jumping and cross-country skiing) and military patrol skating, a forerunner of biathlon. Women only competed in figure skating.
At the opening parade, the athletes from the 16 countries marched into the specially built Stade Olympique de Chamonix in alphabetical order – at that time in front of a small audience of around 300 people. For comparison: tens of thousands attended the opening ceremony in Beijing in 2022. German athletes had not yet received an invitation to the games in 1924 – relations with France remained tense after the end of the First World War and the Treaty of Versailles.
Snow, stars and fights
For the first time hosting an international winter sports event of this magnitude, planning and implementation initially went surprisingly smoothly. A ski jump, bobsleigh track and the Olympic park for ice hockey, curling and figure skating were built. But the weather changed the plans a few weeks before the games opened: within just 24 hours, 1.70 meters of snow fell over the Chamonix-Mont-Blanc valley and covered the figure and speed skating area under a blanket of white. Hundreds of locals got to work shoveling snow and, with the support of the French army, cleared the area – fortunately, because the figure skating would provide another special moment.
Little Sonja Henie entered the cleared ice rink on the day of the figure skaters’ competition. A sensation, as the Norwegian, aged eleven, was the youngest athlete to take part in the Olympic Games up to that point. Although she only achieved eighth and last place in 1924, she won three Olympic gold medals by 1936 before retiring from figure skating to pursue an acting career in Hollywood.
Nevertheless, the figure skaters only aroused cautious enthusiasm among the audience, in complete contrast to ice hockey. The eight-team, two-group tournament was primarily a show of strength by the North American teams. Canada defeated Czechoslovakia 30-0, Sweden 22-0 and Switzerland 33-0 in the preliminary round. In the semi-finals they beat Great Britain by just 19-2. At the same time, the USA marched past Belgium, France and Great Britain with scores of 19-0, 22-0 and 11-0 and defeated Sweden 20-0 in the semifinals. The final was a box office hit; almost 2,000 fans wanted to watch the giants meet. And what an encounter it was! The ice hockey game quickly turned into a heated argument that must have been reminiscent of a bar fight. The players were not wearing any protective equipment or helmets at the time, instead wearing berets or caps, so there were numerous injuries. The Canadians were ultimately superior to the Americans with their fists and in terms of points – the furious game ended 6-1.
The winter sports week ended on February 5th with a celebratory speech by the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Pierre de Coubertin. Also with a view to the intense hockey final, he summed up: “You may have been surprised that these sports are so physical and aggressive. […] It is a school of boldness, energy and willpower!”
The XXV. The Winter Olympics will take place from February 6th to 22nd, 2026 in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.