1928 Winter Olympics

The 1928 Winter Olympics, officially known as the II Olympic Winter Games (French: Les IIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver; German: Olympische Winterspiele 1928; Italian: II Giochi olimpici invernali; Romansh: Gieus olimpics d'enviern 1928), was an international winter multi-sport event that was celebrated from 11 to 19 February 1928 in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

II Olympic Winter Games
Hugo Laubi's poster for the 1928 Winter Olympics
Host citySt. Moritz, Switzerland
Nations25
Athletes464 (438 men, 26 women)
Events14 in 4 sports (8 disciplines)
Opening11 February
Closing19 February
Opened by
President Edmund Schulthess
StadiumSt. Moritz Olympic Ice Rink
Winter
← Chamonix 1924 Lake Placid 1932 →
Summer
← Paris 1924 Amsterdam 1928 →

The 1928 Games were the first true Winter Olympics to be held as a stand-alone event, not in conjunction with a Summer Olympics. The preceding 1924 Winter Games were retroactively renamed the inaugural Winter Olympics, although they had in fact been organised alongside the 1924 Summer Olympics in France. Before 1924, the winter events were included in the schedule of the Summer Games and there were no separate Winter Games. The 1928 Winter Games also replaced the now redundant Nordic Games, which had been held at varying intervals since early in the 20th century.

The hosts were challenged by fluctuating weather conditions; the opening ceremony was held in a blizzard, while warm weather conditions plagued sporting events throughout the rest of the Games.[1] The 10,000 metre speed-skating event was controversially abandoned and officially cancelled.[2]

Highlights
  • Sonja Henie of Norway returned to the Winter Olympics, having taken part in 1924 at the age of 11, and made history by winning the ladies' figure skating aged 15. She became the youngest Olympic champion in history (a distinction she held for 70 years),[3] and went on to defend her title at the next two Winter Olympics.
  • Norway's Ivar Ballangrud won the Olympic title in the 5,000-metre speed skating event, and Clas Thunberg of Finland won both the 500 m and the 1,500 m.
  • Norway finished at the top of the medal table with a total of six gold medals, four silver, and five bronze, totalling 15 medals. The United States finished second in the table with six medals overall.
  • Switzerland won a single bronze medal, the lowest medal haul by a host nation at any Olympic Games.
  • American Irving Jaffee was leading the 10,000-metre speed skating race, having outskated Norwegian defending world champion Bernt Evensen in their heat, when rising temperatures thawed the ice.[4] In a controversial ruling, the Norwegian referee cancelled the entire competition; the International Olympic Committee stepped in to reverse the referee's decision and awarded Jaffee the gold medal, but the International Skating Union later overruled the IOC and restored the ruling.[5] Evensen, for his part, stated publicly that Jaffee should be awarded the gold medal, but that did not happen.

Events

Medals were awarded in 14 events contested in 4 sports (8 disciplines).

Demonstration sports

Venues
Main article: Venues of the 1928 Winter Olympics

Participating nations

Athletes from 25 nations competed at these Games, up from 16 in 1924. Nations making their first appearance at the Winter Olympic Games were Argentina (first participation of a delegation coming from a country belonging to the Southern Hemisphere), Estonia, Germany, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, and Romania.

Participating National Olympic Committees

Number of athletes by National Olympic Committees

Medal count
Main article: 1928 Winter Olympics medal table

  *   Host nation (Switzerland)

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Norway64515
2 United States2226
3 Sweden2215
4 Finland2114
5 Canada1001
 France1001
7 Austria0314
8 Belgium0011
 Czechoslovakia0011
 Germany0011
 Great Britain0011
 Switzerland*0011
Totals (12 nations)14121541

Podium sweeps
Date Sport Event NOC Gold Silver Bronze
14 February Cross-country skiing Men's 50 kilometre  Sweden Per-Erik Hedlund Gustaf Jonsson Volger Andersson
17 February Cross-country skiing Men's 18 kilometre  Norway Johan Grøttumsbråten Ole Hegge Reidar Ødegaard
18 February Nordic combined Individual  Norway Johan Grøttumsbråten Hans Vinjarengen Jon Snersrud

References
  1. Findling, John E.; Pelle, Kimberly D. (2004). Encyclopedia of the Modern Olympic Movement. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 290. ISBN 0-313-32278-3.
  2. "1928 Sankt Moritz Winter Games". Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2009.
  3. "St. Moritz 1928". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
  4. The Big Book of Jewish Sports Heroes: An Illustrated Compendium of Sports History and The 150 Greatest Jewish Sports Stars. 2007. Retrieved February 27, 2011.
  5. The International Jewish Sports Hall ... September 15, 1906. Retrieved February 27, 2011.

See also
External video
The St. Moritz 1948 Official Olympic Film on YouTube
Preceded by
Chamonix		 Winter Olympics
St. Moritz
II Olympic Winter Games (1928)		 Succeeded by
Lake Placid
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.