The history of the Winter Olympics dates back to 1924. At the time it was not known as the Winter Olympics and was known as Winter Sports Week of the VIII Olympiad. The event was retroactively recognized as the first Winter Olympics in 1926. The event was held in the town of Chamonix in The French Alps and athletes from 16 nations: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Finland, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Switzerland, Sweden, United States, and Yugoslavia participated. A total of 260 athletes competed over 10 days. The events were: 4-man bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, figure skating, speed skating, cross country skiing, military patrol (skiing event), Nordic combined, and ski jumping. Norway topped the medal count at 17 (4 gold, 7 silver, and 6 bronze). The United States brought home 4 medals (1 gold, 2 silver, and 1 bronze).
Notable Americans to compete in the 1924 Winter Olympics were:
Charles Jewtraw—Speed Skating gold
Clarence “Taffy” Abel—Ice Hockey (defenseman) Silver; 1st Native American to win a winter medal.
Beatrix Loughran—Figure Skating Ladies Singles; Silver
Handers Augen—Ski Jumping; bronze. Was not awarded his medal until 1974 due to a scoring error that took 50 years to correct. Augen was 80 years old.
Herb Drury—Ice Hockey; Silver. Led the US Team in goals (22) and was team captain.
The Winter Olympics have literally come a long way. The 2026 XXV Winter Olympiad began February 6 and will conclude February 22, 2026. The games are being held in Milano Cortina across northern Italy. There are more than 3,500 athletes from 93 countries, competing for medals in16 sports. The United States sent 232 athletes to compete for gold. There are medal opportunities in alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh, cross country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hockey, luge, nordic combined, short track speed skating, skeleton, ski jumping, ski mountaineering, snowboard, and speed skating.
The United States has put up some major and very memorable victories over the course of the Winter Olympics.
Miracle on Ice 1980: The USA Men’s Hockey defeated a heavily favored Soviet Union team for gold in what has been referred to as the top US sports moment of the 20th century.
Eric Heiden: Speed Skating Sweep-1980
Heiden swept all five Speed Skating events at Lake Placid (5,000m to 10,000m) setting
4 Olympic records and 1 World record.
Shaun White’s Halfpipe Dominance: 2006, 2010, 2018. White won gold in the halfpipe in snowboarding cementing his legacy in snowboarding.
Dan Jansen’s Redemption: 1994-Speed Skating 1,000m. Jansen finally took gold in Lillehammer, after years of high profile losses. He dedicated his win to his sister who died from Leukemia years earlier.
Nathan Chen: 2022 Men’s Figure Skating
Chen took gold and also set a World Record in the men’s short program in Beijing.
Jimmy Shea: 2002 Skeleton
Shea became the first American to win gold in Skeleton. He dedicated the win to his grandfather who was a 1932 Winter Olympic Speed Skating medalist and who died just before the 2002 games.
Bonnie Blair: Speed Skating Career 1988-1994
Blair earned six medals, 5 of them gold, across three Winter Olympics dominating the speed skating rink.
Sarah Hughes: 2002 Women’s Figure Skating
Pulling of a stunning upset a 16 year old Hughes won gold in Women’s Figure Skating in Salt Lake City.
Vonetta Flowers: 2002 Women’s Bobsled
Flowers was the first black athlete to win a gold medal in Women’s Bobsled at the Winter Olympics.
Perhaps the most memorable Winter Sports athlete(s) and moment(s), other than the Miracle on Ice, was the Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding Drama. The drama was not about a victory but rather the physical attack of Nancy Kerrigan by rival skater Tonya Harding’s associates. Kerrigan was struck on the thigh with a collapsible baton in a plan formulated by Harding’s ex-husband in an attempt to make Kerrigan withdraw from
The Winter Olympics. Kerrigan went on to skate for silver. Surprisingly, Harding was allowed to compete (amid more drama from her about skate boot laces) and walked away with nothing.
Since 1924 until 2926 the world has been treated to incredible athletic performances by the best athletes in the world against a beautiful backdrop of snow and ice.
