1924 Olympic Games

The Olympics were gaining widespread acceptance as a major event, evidenced by the increase number of nations attending and the amount of journalists present. The total number of nations participating jumped from 29 to 44, with over 3,000 athletes participating, and there were an astounding 1,000 journalists on hand.

Women’s fencing made its debut, with Ellen Osiier of Denmark rightfully earning the gold medal without losing a single bout. Yet, because of problems determining amateur status, tennis was taken off the list of events after the 1924 Olympics and were not reinstituted until 1988.

Johnny Weissmuller of the United States won two gold medals in swimming on July 20th. He may have been swimming, but he was on fire! Later that same day, he earned a bronze medal in water polo! Johnny later went to Hollywood and starred as Tarzan in twelve movies.

American swimmer Gertrude Ederle won a bronze medal in the 100m freestyle. Such an astounding swimmer was she that just two years later she caused a sensation by becoming the first woman to swim the English Channel…and she did it almost two hours faster than any man had ever achieved.

Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi, who wowed us at the 1920 Olympics, was back and won five gold medals to add to the three he had won at the former games. His most spectacular performance occurred on July 10th. First, he won the 1,500 meter, setting at Olympic record. Then, a mere 55 minutes later, he returned to the track and won the 5,000 meter, again setting another Olympic record. Additionally, he participated in the 10,000 meter cross-country run and was a member of the winning Finnish teams on the 3,000 meter relay and the 10,000 meter relay. Nurmi’s teammate, Ville Ritola, did very well for himself, too - he won four gold medals and two silver.

After much debate, winter sports were added to the Olympic Games this year. The winter events were held in January and February, in Chamonix France, creating a tradition that the winter events would be held a few months before the summer events (this tradition ended in 1992). The first Winter Olympic Games were actually called “The International Winter Sports Week” and went on for 11 days. There were 16 nations that participated in a total of 16 events. Two hundred and fifty-eight athletes were in attendance.

The events included skiing, skating, ice hockey, curling, bobsleigh, and biathlon. The Canadian Ice Hockey Team won all five of their matches. In its first four hockey games, Canada beat Switzerland 33–0, Czechoslovakia 30–0, Sweden 22–0 and Great Britain 19–2, before winning the tournament with a 6–1 victory over the U.S. in the final. USA came in as the Silver Medalist with Great Britain taking the Bronze.

Leading Medal winners:
Clas Thunberg, FIN Speed skating
Ronald Larsen NOR speed skating
Thorleif Haug NOR cross-country+nordic combined
Julius Skutnabb FIN speed skating
Johan Grottumsbraten NOR cross-country+nordic combined
Thoralf Stromstad NOR cross-country+nordic combined

Men’s Figure Skating
Gold: Gillis Grafstrom SWE
Gillis was born June 7, 1893 in Stockholm, Sweden. He won three Olympic gold medals (1920, 1924, and 1928) and a silver medal at the 1932 Winter Olympics in Figure Skating. He coached Sonja Henie and invented the Grafström-pirouette and the flying sit spin. Sadly, he died at 45 years old on April 14, 1938 in Potsdam, Germany.

Silver: Willy Bockl AUT
Willy was born January 27, 1893. He won two silver medals in the Winter Olympics, one in 1924 and one in 1928.

Bronze: Georges Gautschi
Georges was born April 6, 1904. He won Bronze at the 1924 Winter Olympics.

Women’s Figure Skating
Gold: Herma Planck Szabo AUT
Herma was born February 22, 1902 in Vienna, Austria. This was the only Olympic medal she was to earn. She died May 7, 1986 in Rottenmann, Styria.

Silver: Beatrix Loughran USA
Beatrix was born June 30, 1900 in New York City. She is the only American to win three Olympic medals in figure skating. She won silver in 1924, bronze in 1928 and silver and 1932 in the pairs competition. She died December 7, 1975.

Bronze: Ethek Muckelt GBR
Ethek was born May 30, 1885. This was to be the only Olympic medal in her future.

Pairs
Gold: Helene Engelmann and Albert Berger AUT.
Helene was born February 9, 1898 in Vienna, Austria; she died August 1, 1985 in Vienna. Albert was born on August 25, 1894.

Silver: Walter Jakobsson and Ludowika Jakobsson, FIN.
Walter was born February 6, 1882 in Finland. Ludowika was born July 25, 1884. In the 1920 Olympics, they had won the gold.

Bronze: Andree Brunet-Joly and Pierre Brunet, FRA.
Andree was born September 16, 1901 and Pierre was born June 28, 1902 in France. Although they won a bronze medal in the 1924 Olympics, they were all “gold” in 1928 and 1932.

Bobsled - 4 Man
Gold: SWI (Eduard Scherrer, Alfred Neveu, Alfred Schlappi, Heinrich Schlappi)
Eduard Scherrer was born April 15, 1890.
Alfred Neveu was born December 24, 1980.
Alfred Schlappi born January 30, 1898.
Heinrich Schlappi born on April 30, 1905.

Silver: GBR (Rodney Soher, Thomas Arnold, Ralph Broome, Alexander Richardson)
Rodney was born in 1893.
Thomas was born in 1901.
Ralph was born August 5, 1898.
Alexander was born May 11, 1887.

Bronze: BEL (Victor Verschueren, Henri Williems, Rene Mortiaux, Charles Mulder, Paul Van den Broeck
Victor born in 1896.
Henri born in 1895.
Rene born in 1881.
This event was contested because there was a fifth sledder, but rules at that time allowed it.

Cross Country
18KM
Gold: Thorleif Haug, NOR
Thorleif was born September 28, 1894 in Norway. He won three gold medals in the 1924 Winter Olympics and was 4th in the ski jump. He later died December 12, 1934.

Silver: Johan Grottumsbrate NOR
Johan was born on February 12, 1899 and died January 24, 1983. Johan competed in three Winter Olympics and won 3 gold medals, 1 silver and 2 bronze.

Bronze: Tapani Niku FIN
Tapani was born on April 1, 1895.

50 KM
Gold: Thorleif Haug, NOR (*see 18km)

Silver: Thoralf Stromstad NOR
Thoralf was born January 13, 1897. He won two silver medals in the Winter 1924 Olympics.

Bronze: Johan Grottumsbrate NOR (*see 18km)

Ski Jumping
90m
Gold: Jacob Thams, NOR
Jacob was born on April 7, 1898. Jacob competed in two Olympics and won one Gold in 1924 in Nordic skiing and won a silver medal in 1936 in sailing.

Silver: Narve Bonna, NOR
Narve was born on January 16, 1901.

Bronze: Andres Haugen, USA
Andres was born on October 24, 1888.

Nordic Combined
18KM/Jump
Gold: Thorleif Haug, NOR (*see 18km)

Silver: Thoralf Stromstad, NOR (*see 50km)

Bronze: Johan Grottumsbraten, NOR (*see 18km)

Speed Skating
500 m
Gold: Charles Jewtraw, USA
Charles was born May 5, 1900 in Clinton County, New York and later died January 26, 1996 in Palm Beach, Florida. This was to be his only Gold.

Silver: Oskar Olsen, NOR
Oskar was born on October 17, 1987 and died December19, 1956.

Bronze: There was a tie for the Bronze between Clas Thunberg, FIN and Roald Larsen, NOR
Clas was born on April 5, 1893 in Helsinki, Finland and died April 28, 1973. He won three gold medals at the 1924 Olympics and two gold medals at the 1928 Olympics. Roald Larsen was born January 2, 1898 in Norway. He won three bronze medals in speed skating in the 1924 Olympics and two silver. In 1928 he won one bronze medal.

1500m
Gold: Clas Thunberg, FIN (*see 500m)

Silver: Roald Larsen, NOR (*see 500m)

Bronze: Sigurd Moen, NOR
Sigurd was born on October 31, 1897 in Norway.

5000m
Gold: Clas Thunberg, FIN (*see 500m)

Silver: Julius Sknutnabb, FIN
Julius was born on June 12, 1889 in Finland. He won three medals in the 1924 Olympics: one gold, one silver and one bronze. He later won a silver medal in the 1928 Olympics.

Bronze: Roald Larsen, NOR (*see 500m)

10,000m
Gold: Julius Skutnabb, FIN (*see 5000m)

Silver: Clas Thunberg, FIN (*see 500m)

Bronze: Roald Larsen (*see 500m)

Combined
Gold: Clas Thunberg, FIN (*see 500m)

Silver: Roald Larsen, NOR (*see 500m)

Bronze: Julius Skutnabb FIN (*See 5000m)

It was quite an interesting year for the Olympic Games. The new addition of the winter challenges seemed only to pique interest further in participating in the Games. Camaraderie and competitiveness now had a new home – the Winter Games.