1920's Cultural Website

On January 25, 1924, the first ever Winter Olympics, known as “Winter Sports Week” at that time, was held in Chamonix, France until February 5th. The International Olympic Committee allowed for this historic event in 1921, but never gave it the official title of First Ever Winter Olympics until 1925, a year after the games had taken place. In the end, it turned out to be a huge success, with over 10,000 spectators.

 

The importance of this event is that it marks the beginning of a global tradition that still continues to today. Just last week in Sochi, we could still see how popular these winter olympics are to the world. Previously, the closest thing to the Winter Olympics were the Nordic Games, but that was limited to only Scandinavian countries. The introduction of a winter event in France represented that a new tradition had been born.