1928 Olympic Games

The 1928 Winter Games were held in St Moritz, Amsterdam.   It was during these Games that the Olympic flame was first lit during the opening ceremony.

There were 25 nations in attendance, with more than 464 athletes competing.  Remarkably, 26 of them were women.  There were 14 events held.

Leading Medal Winners                             
Bernt Evensen, NOR speed skating                    
Johan Grottumsbraten, NOR cross-country                
Clas Thunberg, FIN speed skating                    
Jennison Heaton USA bobsled & Cresta                
Ivar Ballangrud, NOR speed skating                    

Figure Skating
Men
Gold:   Gillis Grafstrom, SWE (*see 1924 Olympics)

Silver:  Willy Bockl, AUT (*see 1924 Olympics)

Bronze:  Robert van Zeebroeck, BEL  
Robert was born in 1909 in Belgium.  

Women
Gold:  Sonja Henie, NOR
Sonja was born on April 8, 1912 in Norway.  At age 15, Sonia won the women’s figure skating Gold, setting a record for being the youngest athlete to win a medal. That record was not beaten for 74 years.  She won two more Gold medals in the following Olympics of 1932 and 1936.

Silver:  Fritzi Burger, AUT  
Fritzi was born June 6, 1910 in Austria.  She won two silver medals one in 1928 and one in 1932 in figure skating.

Bronze:  Beatrix Loughran, USA  (*see 1924 Olympics)

Pairs
Gold:  Andree Joly & Pierre Brunet, FRA (*see 1924 Olympics)

Silver:  Otto Kaiser and Lilly Scholz, AUT  
Otto was born on May 8, 1901 and Lilly was born April 18, 1903 in Austria.  

Bronze:  Melitta Brunner and Ludwig Wrede, AUT  
Melitta was born January 28, 1907 and Ludwig was born October 28, 1894 in Austria.  

Ice Hockey
Gold:  Canada

Silver:  Sweden

Bronze:  Switzerland

Bobsled
5 Man
Gold:  USA (Billy Fiske, Nion Tucker, Geoff Mason, Clifford Gray, Richard Parke)

Silver:  USA (Lyman Hine, Jay O’Brien, Thomas Doe, David Granger, Jennison Heaton)

Bronze:  GER (Valentin Krempl, Hans Nagle, Hans Heb, Sebastian Huber, Hanns Kilian)

Luge
(Known then as Cresta or Toboggan)
1 Man
Gold:  Jennison Heaton USA  
Jennison was born April 16, 1903.  Additionally, he won a silver in five man bobsled that same year.

Silver:  John Heaton, USA
John was born September 9, 1908 in the USA.  He won three medals: two silver in Luge in 1928 and 1948 and one bronze in the 2 Man bobsled in 1932.

Bronze:  David Northesk, GBR  
David was born September 24, 1901.  This was his only Olympic medal.

Cross Country
18km    
Gold:  Johan Grottumsbraten, NOR (*see 1924 Olympics)

Silver:  Ole Hegge, NOR  
Ole was born July 5, 1898 in Norway.  

Bronze:  Reider Odegaard, NOR  
Reider was born November 24, 1901 in Norway.  

50km    
Gold:  Per Erik Hedlund, SWE  
Per Erik was born April 18, 1897 in Sweden.

Silver:  Gustaf Jonsson, SWE  
Gustaf was born July 7, 1903 in Sweden.  

Bronze:  Volger Andersson, SWE  
Volger was born on January 19, 1896 in Sweden.  He was also a one time medal winner.

Ski Jumping
90m    
Gold:  Alf Andersen, NOR  
Alf was born May 5, 1906 in Norway.  

Silver:  Sigmund Ruud, NOR  
Sigmund was born December 30, 1907 in Norway.

Bronze:  Rudolf Burkert, CZE  
Rudolf was born October 31, 1904 in Czechoslovakia.

Nordic Combined
18km/Jump    
Gold:  Johan Grottumsbraten, NOR (*see 1924 Olymipcs)

Silver:  Hans Vinjarengen, NOR  
Hans was born August 20, 1905 in Norway. He won two Olympic medals, one silver in 1928 in nordic combined and the second in 1932 a bronze medal in the same event.  

Bronze:  John Snersrud, NOR  
John was born October 1, 1902 in Norway.  

Speed Skating
500m
Gold:  TIE - Bernt Evenson, NOR  and Clas Thunberg, FIN (*see 1924 Olympics)
Bernt was born April 8, 1905 in Norway.  He won three Olympic medals in speed     skating in 1928: one gold, one silver and a bronze.  In the 1932 Olympics he won a silver medal.

1500m    
Gold: Clas Thunberg, FIN (*see 1924 Olympics)

Silver: Baela Evensen, NOR
Baela was born April 8, 1905.  He won three Olympic medals in 1928: gold, silver and bronze.  In 1932, he won a silver.

Bronze:   Ivar Ballangrud, NOR  
Ivar was born on March 7, 1904 in Norway.  In 1928 he won a gold and bronze medal and in 1932 he won silver.  

5000m
Gold:  Ivar Ballangrud, NOR (*see 1500m)

Silver:  Julius Sknutnabb, FIN (*see 1924 Olympics)

Bronze:  Baela Evensen, NOR (*see 1500m)

10,000m
NO DECISION MADE (The thawind of the ice cancelled the event)