Tomorrow, the 25th Olympic Winter Games kick off in Milan, Italy. So, today, we're taking a look at the first Winter Olympics ever in Chamonix, France, which ended on this day in 1924. Five sports were featured, including bobsledding, curling, ice hockey, ice skating, speed skating, and several types of skiing that were all grouped under "Nordic skiing." You'll never guess who took home the most medals.
Embarrassingly for France, the 1924 competition was also the first modern Olympic games where the host country won no gold medals at all, something that's only happened a few times since. Norway ended up taking home 17 medals in total, followed by other wintry European nations including Finland, Austria, and Switzerland, with the U.S. coming in at fifth.
The games hadn't actually been dubbed as part of an official Olympic event series until after the fact. The International Olympic Committee agreed a year after what had been called "International Winter Sports Week" to create a regular cycle of winter games; after that they realized they needed to retroactively rebrand the event as the first in the series.
You can learn more about the first Winter Olympics at History.com.
