1924 Paris Olympics
The Summer of 1924 saw the Olympics come to Paris, the VIII Olympiad. The home of Pierre de Coubertin (father of the Modern Olympics). This was the second Olympics held in Paris and was held between 4th May and 27th July 1924.
Venue:
The main venue for the Games was the Stadia Olympique Yves-du-Manoir, which at the time of the Olympics in 1924 had a capacity of 45,000
The Host City:
Again the Games had been origionally been scheduled for another country, Amsterdam, but had been changed to Parisat the request of Baron de Coubertin. This was the last Games before he retired from the IOC. He wanted to see his last Games on home ground one last time and to give France another chance to do better than in 1900.
Not only was there an Olympic Stadium, but for the first time swimming had a purpose built swimming pool and the athletes were housed in wooden cabins, the first ever Olympic Village.
Tradition:
The Olympic Motto ‘Citius Altius, Fortius’ (Faster, Higher, Stronger) was used for the first time at the 1924 Games and for the first time in the closing ceremony, 3 flags were raised (The IOC, the host nation flag and the flag of the next host nation).
The Becoming of a Major Sporting Event:
The 1924 Paris Games showed mass appeal world wide, with the number of participating nations soaring from 29 to 44 (with over 3000 athletes).
There was also 625,000 spectators and over 1000 journalists. The Paris Games also was the first Games to have live radio broadcast of the event.
The Games also had a Winter Sports Week again and was considered the first ever Winter Games. It was held from 25th January to 5th February in Chamonix. There was 16 events over 7 sports including Bobsleigh, curling, figure skating and Nordic skiing. The were some 258 athletes at the Winter Games, including 11 women.
Norway & Finland came away from the Winter Games with the greatest success and paved the future of the Winter Games as we know it today.
Chariots of Fire:
Everyone knows the movie and the theme tune… Harold Abrahams was a Jewish British Athlete, he won the 100m and Eric Liddell from Scotland won the 400m. Their stories were imortalised in the 1981 Oscar Winning movie which examined their motives for running. Harold hoped to overcome the prejudices that existed against Jews and Eric was a devout Christian who ran for the glory of God.
Swimming:
Swimming events were held for the first time in a purpose built 50m swimming pool. The star of the swimming events was Austo-Hungrian born American Johnny Weismuller who went on to become the famous Hollywood star who played Tarzan. He won 3 Golds (100m freestyle, 400m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle relay).
He was also the first man to break the 1minute barrier for 100m freestyle.
Event Medal Performance:
Again it was the USA that won the 1924 Olympics, with France coming 3rd and Great Britain coming 4th.
Category: Olympics
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