1924 Winter Olympics medal table

1924 Winter Olympics medals
LocationChamonix,  France
Highlights
Most gold medals Finland (4) and
 Norway (4)
Most total medals Norway (17)
Medalling NOCs10
Olympics medal tables · 1928 →
As caption
Publicity poster for the event

The 1924 Winter Olympics, officially known as the I Olympic Winter Games, and known at the time as Semaine Internationale des Sports d'Hiver ("International Winter Sports Week"), was a winter multi-sport event held in Chamonix, France, from 25 January to 5 February 1924. Norway topped the table, collecting seventeen medals in total, including four gold,[1] three of which were won by Thorleif Haug in the Nordic combined and cross-country skiing events.[2] Norway also achieved two podium sweeps, winning all three medals in both the 50 km cross-country skiing and the Nordic combined. This remained a record at the Winter Olympics until 2014.[a][4]

When it was held, the games were not formally recognised as being the Olympics, but acknowledged that they were held under the "high patronage of the International Olympic Committee".[5] Partly due to this, varying figures are reported for the number of participants. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) website suggests that 258 athletes from 16 nations participated in 16 events across 9 sports.[2] In contrast, the Sports-Reference website lists 313 participants from 19 countries.[5] Bill Mallon, a prominent Olympic Games historian, quotes a figure of 291 competitors in his Historical Dictionary of the Olympic Movement.[6] Meanwhile, the official report for the 1924 Summer and Winter Olympics listed 293 athletes from 17 nations.[7]

Finland placed second on the table, collecting four gold medals amongst a total of eleven. Clas Thunberg won five of their medals, achieving a medal in each of the speed skating events he took part in; collecting three gold medals, one silver and one bronze.[2] Eight of the competing nations achieved at least one gold medal, with only Belgium and the hosts, France, medalling without winning a gold medal.[1] One medal was reallocated in 1974; during the games, Thorleif Haug of Norway had been awarded the bronze medal in ski jumping, along with his three gold medals. A Norwegian historian discovered that there had been a scoring error, and an American, Anders Haugen, had actually finished in third place. As Haug had died in 1934, his daughter presented Haugen, aged 83, with his medal.[8][9][10]

In the official report, the classification of nations is ranked not by medals, but rather by "points", which were awarded for each position from first to sixth; not exclusively for gold, silver and bronze. Due to this, Czechoslovakia were included in the table ahead of Belgium, due to two fourth-place finishes, one fifth and one sixth. Italy were also present, in twelfth, for their solitary sixth place.[11]

  1. ^ a b "1924 Medal Tally". Topend Sports. Archived from the original on 25 August 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  2. ^ a b c "Chamonix 1924". International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 1 September 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  3. ^ BMallon (18 February 2014). "Netherlands Speed Skating Medal Sweeps". OlympStats. Archived from the original on 25 August 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  4. ^ "Bergsma breaks Olympic record to lead fourth Dutch medal sweep". Xinhuanet. 19 February 2014. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  5. ^ a b "1924 Chamonix Winter Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 25 August 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  6. ^ Mallon, Bill; Heijmans, Jereon (2011). Historical Dictionary of the Olympic Movement. Plymouth, UK: Scarecrow Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-8108-7522-7. Archived from the original on 14 October 2017.
  7. ^ "Official Report of the 1924 Olympic Games (PDF) (in French). International Olympic Committee. 1924. p. 662. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 February 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  8. ^ Jorsett, Per (13 February 2009). "Thorleif Haug". Norsk biografisk leksikon (in Norwegian). Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget. Archived from the original on 21 September 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
  9. ^ "Anders Haugen's belated bronze medal". Ski Jumping Hill Archive. 5 January 2006. Archived from the original on 21 September 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
  10. ^ "Anders Haugen, Olympian; Medal Was Delayed 50 Years". The New York Times. AP. 19 April 1984. Archived from the original on 20 September 2017.
  11. ^ "Official Report of the 1924 Olympic Games (PDF) (in French). International Olympic Committee. 1924. p. 661. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 February 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2017.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).