Speed skating at the 1924 Winter Olympics – Men's 500 metres

Men's 500 metres speed skating
at the I Olympic Winter Games
Refer to caption
Gold medallist Charles Jewtraw in 1921
VenueStade Olympique de Chamonix
Date26 January 1924
Competitors27 from 10 nations
Winning time44.0 seconds OR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Charles Jewtraw  United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Oskar Olsen  Norway
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Roald Larsen  Norway
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Clas Thunberg  Finland
1928 →
Archive Video

The 500 metres speed skating event at the 1924 Winter Olympics was held on 26 January 1924 at the Stade Olympique de Chamonix in Chamonix, France. One of five speed skating races to be contested at these Games, this was the first event ever contested at the Winter Olympics. The event was won by American Charles Jewtraw who became the first Winter Olympics gold medallist.[1]

Summary

The event required competitors to skate one and quarter laps of the 400 metre track. Under the rules of the International Skating Union, athletes raced in pairs in a straight time-trial event. Prior to the event, the pairs were determined by the drawing of lots. With 31 speed skaters from 13 nations due to compete, this was reduced to 27 from 10 nations after the withdrawal of four athletes, including Christfried Burmeister who was due to be Estonia's only representative at the inaugural Winter Games. He did not enter the Chamonix event and his withdrawal was not communicated to the organisers of the Games in time.[2] This resulted in a slight reordering of the skaters.[3]

Leading up the Games, the Finnish team was training in Davos where Clas Thunberg had set a time of 43.8 seconds, four tenths slower than Oscar Mathisen's world record.[1] Mathisen's professional status prevented him from participating in these Games.[4] The Americans took part in metric competitions at Saranac Lake, where Jewtraw set a time of 46.6 seconds. He also set a new world record in the 100 yard event in 9.4 seconds whilst Roald Larsen of Norway skated 44.6 seconds in Frogner.[1]

Joe Moore of the United States and Eric Blomgren of Sweden became the first athletes to ever compete at the Winter Olympics, with Moore setting the first Olympic record covering the distance in 45.6 seconds. Asser Wallenius of Finland, bettered Moore's time by six-tenths of a second to move into first position with 11 skaters remaining. Next to skate was the eventual silver medallist Norway's Oskar Olsen who crossed the line in 44.2 seconds. The defending world champion Clas Thunberg and Norway's Roald Larsen had to settle for sharing the bronze medal with a time of 44.8 seconds. The gold medal performance came from pair 15 where American Jewtraw was up against Charles Gorman. The Canadian took the lead, before he was soon overtaken by Jewtraw finishing in a time of 44 seconds.[1]

Jewtraw coming from a poor family found the sport expensive but found sponsorship from Lake Placid businessman Jack Mabbit. He had retired before the 1924 Games but returned to the sport to compete in France. After competing in the 1500 and 5000 metre events at these Games he retired for good.[1] Jewtraw's gold medal is on display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.[5]

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World record  Oscar Mathisen (NOR) 43.4 Davos, Switzerland 17 January 1914 [6]
Olympic record N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

The following records were set during this competition.

Date Round Athlete Country Time Record
26 January 1924 Pair 1 Joe Moore  United States 45.6 OR
26 January 1924 Pair 11 Asser Wallenius  Finland 45.0 OR
26 January 1924 Pair 12 Oskar Olsen  Norway 44.2 OR
26 January 1924 Pair 15 Charles Jewtraw  United States 44.0 OR

Results

The event began Saturday at 10:00.[3][7]

Rank Pair Name Country Time Time behind Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) 15 Charles Jewtraw  United States 44.0 OR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 12 Oskar Olsen  Norway 44.2 +0.2 OR
=3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 17 Roald Larsen  Norway 44.8 +0.8 [a]
14 Clas Thunberg  Finland
5 11 Asser Wallenius  Finland 45.0 +1.0 OR
6 13 Axel Blomqvist  Sweden 45.2 +1.2
7 15 Charles Gorman  Canada 45.4 +1.4
=8 1 Joe Moore  United States 45.6 +1.6 OR
13 Harald Strøm  Norway
10 10 Julius Skutnabb  Finland 46.4 +2.4
11 1 Eric Blomgren  Sweden 46.6 +2.6
12 6 Harry Kaskey  United States 47.0 +3.0
13 5 Sigurd Moen  Norway 47.2 +3.2
14 12 Bill Steinmetz  United States 47.8 +3.8
15 3 Léonhard Quaglia  France 48.4 +4.4
16 18 Alberts Rumba  Latvia 48.8 +4.8 [b]
17 4 Leon Jucewicz  Poland 49.6 +5.6
18 3 Albert Hassler  France 50.6 +6.6
19 14 Louis De Ridder  Belgium 52.8 +8.8
20 11 André Gegout  France 53.2 +9.2
21 17 Georges de Wilde  France 54.8 +10.8 [c]
22 8 Gaston Van Hazebroeck  Belgium 55.8 +11.8
=23 8 Frederick Dix  Great Britain 56.4 +12.4
10 Philippe Van Volckxsom  Belgium
25 5 Bernard Sutton  Great Britain 1:00.8 +16.8
26 6 Marcel Moens  Belgium 1:02.2 +18.2
27 4 Cyril Horn  Great Britain 1:04.4 +20.4
2 Christfried Burmeister  Estonia DNS
7 Albert Tebbit  Great Britain DNS
9 Alexander Spengler  Switzerland DNS
9 Cesare Locatelli  Italy DNS

Officials

The officials for the events were as follows.[3]

Role Name Country
Judge Referee Captain Hammerstad Norway
Starter Hans Vallar Switzerland
Timekeeper Ch. Faroux France
Timekeeper Degraine France
Timekeeper Goury France
Timekeeper Meiers France
Timekeeper Captain Levalhati Finland
Turns Poplimont Belgium
Turns Taylor United States
Turns R. George France
Commissioners at the crossroads Steen Peterson Norway
Commissioners at the crossroads Maucourt France
Commissioners at the crossroads Valley France
Delegates to the athletes Ch. Sabouret France
Delegates to the athletes Becci France

Notes

  1. ^ Originally in pair 2 with Burmeister[3]
  2. ^ Originally in pair 7 with Tebbit[3]
  3. ^ Originally in pair 16 by himself[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Speed Skating at the 1924 Chamonix Winter Games: Men's 500 metres". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 14 January 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  2. ^ "I taliolümpiamängud Chamonix 1924 (25. jaanuar – 5. veebruar)". Postimees (in Estonian). 18 January 2006. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e f M. A. Avé, ed. (1924). Les Jeux de la VIIIe Olympiade Paris 1924 – Rapport Officiel [The Games of the VIII Olympiad Paris 1924 – Official Report] (pdf) (Report) (in French). Paris: French Olympic Committee. pp. 669–70.
  4. ^ "Speed Skating at the 1924 Chamonix Winter Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 14 January 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  5. ^ "Charlie Jewtraw, Speed Skater, 95". The New York Times. AP. 1 February 1996. Archived from the original on 20 June 2018. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  6. ^ "Oscar Mathisen, 4 October 1888". evertstenlund.se. Archived from the original on 24 July 2018. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  7. ^ "Results of the men's 500 metres speed skating at the 1924 Winter Olympics". International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 1 September 2018. Retrieved 15 March 2020.