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), were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated February 11–19, 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 held on its own as they were not in conjunction with a Summer Olympics. The preceding 1924 Games were retroactively renamed the inaugural Winter Olympics, though they had been in fact part of the 1924 Summer Olympics. All preceding Winter Events of the Olympic Games were the winter sports part of the schedule of the Summer Games, and not held as a separate Winter Games. These games also replaced the now redundant Nordic Games, that were held quadrennially since early in the century.

Fluctuating weather conditions challenged the hosts. 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 to make history when she won the ladies' figure skating at the age of 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.
  • Ivar Ballangrud won the Olympic title in the 5,000m speed skating and Clas Thunberg won the 500m and the 1,500m.
  • Norway finished on top of the medal table with a total of 6 gold medals, 4 silver and 5 bronze, a total of 15 medals. The USA finished second in the table.
  • The single bronze medal won by Switzerland is the lowest output by a host nation at an Olympics.
  • In the 10,000-meter speed skating race, Irving Jaffee was leading the competition, 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 canceled the entire competition. Although the International Olympic Committee reversed the referee's decision and awarded Jaffee the gold medal, the International Skating Union later overruled the IOC and restored the ruling.[5] Evensen, for his part, publicly said that Jaffee should be awarded the gold medal, but that never happened.

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
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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
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