Chamonix 1924 Winter Olympics

Chamonix, France. Retroactively designated the first Winter Olympic Games

Overview

Staged in January 1924 as an International Winter Sports Week, the festival drew 258 athletes from 16 nations to ski, skate and sled beneath Mont Blanc. The IOC later designated it the first Winter Olympic Games. American Charles Jewtraw won the first event, the 500 meters speed skating, and Finn Clas Thunberg collected five medals, three of them gold.