Speed skating at the 1924 Winter Olympics – Men's 500 metres

Men's 500 metres speed skating; at the I Olympic Winter Games
	Gold medallist Charles Jewtraw in 1921
Venue	Stade Olympique de Chamonix
Date	26 January 1924
Competitors	27 from 10 nations
Winning time	44.0 seconds OR
Medalists

The 500 metres speed skating event at the 1924 Winter Olympics was held on 26 January 1924 at the Stade Olympique de Chamonix in Chamonix, France. One of five speed skating races to be contested at these Games, this was the first event ever contested at the Winter Olympics. The event was won by American Charles Jewtraw who became the first Winter Olympics gold medallist.[1]

Archive Video

Summary

The event required competitors to skate one and quarter laps of the 400 metre track. Under the rules of the International Skating Union, athletes raced in pairs in a straight time-trial event. Prior to the event, the pairs were determined by the drawing of lots. With 31 speed skaters from 13 nations due to compete, this was reduced to 27 from 10 nations after the withdrawal of four athletes, including Christfried Burmeister who was due to be Estonia's only representative at the inaugural Winter Games. He did not enter the Chamonix event and his withdrawal was not communicated to the organisers of the Games in time.[2] This resulted in a slight reordering of the skaters.[3]

Leading up the Games, the Finnish team was training in Davos where Clas Thunberg had set a time of 43.8 seconds, four tenths slower than Oscar Mathisen's world record.[1] Mathisen's professional status prevented him from participating in these Games.[4] The Americans took part in metric competitions at Saranac Lake, where Jewtraw set a time of 46.6 seconds. He also set a new world record in the 100 yard event in 9.4 seconds whilst Roald Larsen of Norway skated 44.6 seconds in Frogner.[1]

Joe Moore of the United States and Eric Blomgren of Sweden became the first athletes to ever compete at the Winter Olympics, with Moore setting the first Olympic record covering the distance in 45.6 seconds. Asser Wallenius of Finland, bettered Moore's time by six-tenths of a second to move into first position with 11 skaters remaining. Next to skate was the eventual silver medallist Norway's Oskar Olsen who crossed the line in 44.2 seconds. The defending world champion Clas Thunberg and Norway's Roald Larsen had to settle for sharing the bronze medal with a time of 44.8 seconds. The gold medal performance came from pair 15 where American Jewtraw was up against Charles Gorman. The Canadian took the lead, before he was soon overtaken by Jewtraw finishing in a time of 44 seconds.[1]

Jewtraw coming from a poor family found the sport expensive but found sponsorship from Lake Placid businessman Jack Mabbit. He had retired before the 1924 Games but returned to the sport to compete in France. After competing in the 1500 and 5000 metre events at these Games he retired for good.[1] Jewtraw's gold medal is on display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.[5]

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	Oscar Mathisen (NOR)	43.4	Davos, Switzerland	17 January 1914	[6]
Olympic record	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

The following records were set during this competition.

Date	Round	Athlete	Country	Time	Record
26 January 1924	Pair 1	Joe Moore	United States	45.6	OR
26 January 1924	Pair 11	Asser Wallenius	Finland	45.0	OR
26 January 1924	Pair 12	Oskar Olsen	Norway	44.2	OR
26 January 1924	Pair 15	Charles Jewtraw	United States	44.0	OR

Results

The event began at 10:00.[3][7]

Rank	Pair	Name	Country	Time	Time behind	Notes
	15	Charles Jewtraw	United States	44.0	—	OR
	12	Oskar Olsen	Norway	44.2	+0.2	OR
=	17	Roald Larsen	Norway	44.8	+0.8	[lower-alpha 1]
=	14	Clas Thunberg	Finland	44.8	+0.8
5	11	Asser Wallenius	Finland	45.0	+1.0	OR
6	13	Axel Blomqvist	Sweden	45.2	+1.2
7	15	Charles Gorman	Canada	45.4	+1.4
=8	1	Joe Moore	United States	45.6	+1.6	OR
=8	13	Harald Strøm	Norway	45.6	+1.6
10	10	Julius Skutnabb	Finland	46.4	+2.4
11		Eric Blomgren	Sweden	46.6	+2.6
12	6	Harry Kaskey	United States	47.0	+3.0
13	5	Sigurd Moen	Norway	47.2	+3.2
14	12	Bill Steinmetz	United States	47.8	+3.8
15	3	Léonhard Quaglia	France	48.4	+4.4
16	18	Alberts Rumba	Latvia	48.8	+4.8	[lower-alpha 2]
17	4	Leon Jucewicz	Poland	49.6	+5.6
18	3	Albert Hassler	France	50.6	+6.6
19	14	Louis De Ridder	Belgium	52.8	+8.8
20	11	André Gegout	France	53.2	+9.2
21	17	Georges de Wilde	France	54.8	+10.8	[lower-alpha 3]
22	8	Gaston Van Hazebroeck	Belgium	55.8	+11.8
=23	8	Frederick Dix	Great Britain	56.4	+12.4
=23	10	Philippe Van Volckxsom	Belgium	56.4	+12.4
25	5	Bernard Sutton	Great Britain	1:00.8	+16.8
26	6	Marcel Moens	Belgium	1:02.2	+18.2
27	4	Cyril Horn	Great Britain	1:04.4	+20.4
	2	Christfried Burmeister	Estonia			DNS
	7	Albert Tebbit	Great Britain			DNS
	9	A. K. Spengler	Switzerland			DNS
	9	G. Locatelli	Italy			DNS

Officials

The officials for the events were as follows.[3]

Role	Name	Country
Judge Referee	Captain Hammerstad	Norway
Starter	Hans Vallar	Switzerland
Timekeeper	Ch. Faroux	France
Timekeeper	Degraine	France
Timekeeper	Goury	France
Timekeeper	Meiers	France
Timekeeper	Captain Levalhati	Finland
Turns	Poplimont	Belgium
Turns	Taylor	United States
Turns	R. George	France
Commissioners at the crossroads	Steen Peterson	Norway
Commissioners at the crossroads	Maucourt	France
Commissioners at the crossroads	Valley	France
Delegates to the athletes	Ch. Sabouret	France
Delegates to the athletes	Becci	France

Notes

Originally in pair 2 with Burmeister[3]
Originally in pair 7 with Tebbit[3]
Originally in pair 16 by himself[3]

References

"Speed Skating at the 1924 Chamonix Winter Games: Men's 500 metres". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 14 January 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
"I taliolümpiamängud Chamonix 1924 (25. jaanuar – 5. veebruar)". Postimees (in Estonian). 18 January 2006. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
M. A. Avé, ed. (1924). Les Jeux de la VIII^e Olympiade Paris 1924 – Rapport Officiel [The Games of the VIII Olympiad Paris 1924 – Official Report] (pdf) (Report) (in French). Paris: French Olympic Committee. pp. 669–70.
"Speed Skating at the 1924 Chamonix Winter Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 14 January 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
"Charlie Jewtraw, Speed Skater, 95". The New York Times. AP. 1 February 1996. Archived from the original on 20 June 2018. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
"Oscar Mathisen, 4 October 1888". evertstenlund.se. Archived from the original on 24 July 2018. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
"Results of the men's 500 metres speed skating at the 1924 Winter Olympics". International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 1 September 2018. Retrieved 15 March 2020.

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[8] Originally in pair 2 with Burmeister[3]

[9] Originally in pair 7 with Tebbit[3]

[10] Originally in pair 16 by himself[3]

[SR-1] "Speed Skating at the 1924 Chamonix Winter Games: Men's 500 metres". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 14 January 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.

[2] "I taliolümpiamängud Chamonix 1924 (25. jaanuar – 5. veebruar)". Postimees (in Estonian). 18 January 2006. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2020.

[Official_report-3] M. A. Avé, ed. (1924). Les Jeux de la VIII^e Olympiade Paris 1924 – Rapport Officiel [The Games of the VIII Olympiad Paris 1924 – Official Report] (pdf) (Report) (in French). Paris: French Olympic Committee. pp. 669–70.

[4] "Speed Skating at the 1924 Chamonix Winter Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 14 January 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.

[5] "Charlie Jewtraw, Speed Skater, 95". The New York Times. AP. 1 February 1996. Archived from the original on 20 June 2018. Retrieved 15 March 2020.

[6] "Oscar Mathisen, 4 October 1888". evertstenlund.se. Archived from the original on 24 July 2018. Retrieved 15 March 2020.

[7] "Results of the men's 500 metres speed skating at the 1924 Winter Olympics". International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 1 September 2018. Retrieved 15 March 2020.