What were the first Winter Olympic Games like

The first Winter Olympics took place in 1924 in Chamonix, France. We have old photos at our disposal that capture the highlights of sports competitions and preparation for these very competitions.

1. The opening ceremony of the 1924 Winter Olympics.

The photo shows the traditional Olympic greeting of French athletes, not fascists at all — the German national team did not participate in the 1924 Games at all.

By the way, in 1924 there was no main symbol of the Olympic Games — Fire. Nowadays, the lighting of the torch is the culmination of the opening ceremony of the Games, and it's hard to imagine how many millions of rubles were spent on the Olympic relay in Russia!

2. Preparation for competitions — snow removal from the stadium.

3. Figure skating in 1924.

First medalists in figure skating (from left to right): Herma Szabo (Hungary, gold), Efel Makelt (Great Britain, silver), Beatrice Loughran (USA, bronze).

4. The main phenomenon of the 1924 Games: Norwegian Sonia Heni came to the Olympics in Chamonix at the age of 11. In France, Sonya took last place, but at the second and third Winter Games she invariably took gold.

5. Performance of a young athlete.

6. And this is already a pair competition!

7. Curling in 1924.

Only four teams participated in the curling tournament. Moreover, two national teams represented Sweden. And the first Olympic gold in this sport was won by the British.

8. The French national hockey team passes along the podium with the audience. A total of 16 countries participated in the first Winter Games in Chamonix. 16 sets of awards were awarded. The Norwegian national team had the most medals (17): 4 gold, 6 silver and 7 bronze awards.

9. VIP-tribune, which looks quite modest by modern standards.

10. The Canadian hockey team of 1924 was formed from the players of the amateur club Toronto Granites. At the Chamonix Games, the Maple Leaves won their second Olympic gold (they won their first gold medal at the Antwerp Games in 1920).

11. Hockey. Team Canada vs. team USA in 1924.

In 1924, the Canadian national team defeated the US team with a score of 6:1.

12. Springboard jump.

13. Bobsleigh in 1924.

The British Olympic team without helmets rushes to their silver medal. The Swiss team won gold in 1924.

14. Bobsledders — participants of the Games.

15. Finnish skaters.

16. Retroratrack.