The1928 Winter Olympics, officially known as theII Olympic Winter Games (French:IIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver;German:II. Olympische Winterspiele;Italian:II Giochi olimpici invernali;Romansh:II Gieus olimpics d'enviern) and commonly known asSt. Moritz 1928 (French:Saint-Moritz 1928;Romansh:San Murezzan 1928), were an internationalwintermulti-sport event that was celebrated from 11 to 19 February 1928 inSt. Moritz,Switzerland.
The 1928 Games were the first trueWinter Olympics to be held as a stand-alone event, not in conjunction with aSummer Olympics. The preceding1924 Winter Games were retroactively renamed the inaugural Winter Olympics, although they had in fact been organised alongside the1924 Summer Olympics in France. Before 1924, the winter events were included in the schedule of the Summer Games and there were no separate Winter Games. The 1928 Winter Games also replaced the now redundantNordic Games, which had been held at varying intervals since early in the 20th century.
The hosts were challenged by fluctuating weather conditions; theopening ceremony was held in a blizzard, while warm weather conditions plagued sporting events throughout the rest of the Games.[1] The10,000 metre speed-skating event was controversially abandoned and officially cancelled.[2] Filmed footage of the games exists in a silent, feature-length documentary,The White Stadium.
Sonja Henie of Norway returned to the Winter Olympics, having taken part in1924 at the age of 11, and made history by winning theladies' figure skating aged 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.
Norway'sIvar Ballangrud won the Olympic title in the 5,000-metre speed skating event, andClas Thunberg of Finland won both the 500 m and the 1,500 m.
Norway finished at the top of the medal table with a total of six gold medals, four silver, and five bronze, totalling 15 medals. TheUnited States finished second in the table with six medals overall.
Switzerland won a single bronze medal, the lowest medal haul by a host nation at any Olympic Games.
AmericanIrving Jaffee was leading the 10,000-metre speed skating race, having outskated Norwegian defending world championBernt Evensen in their heat, when rising temperatures thawed the ice.[4] In a controversial ruling, the Norwegian referee cancelled the entire competition; theInternational Olympic Committee stepped in to reverse the referee's decision and awarded Jaffee the gold medal, but theInternational Skating Union later overruled the IOC and restored the ruling.[5] Evensen, for his part, stated publicly that Jaffee should be awarded the gold medal, but that did not happen.
Athletes from 25 nations competed at these Games, up from 16 in 1924. Nations making their first appearance at the Winter Olympic Games wereArgentina (first participation of a delegation coming from a country belonging to the Southern Hemisphere),Estonia,Germany,Japan,Lithuania,Luxembourg,Mexico, theNetherlands, andRomania.
