Olympic Games of 1924 (Summer)
The 1924 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the VIII Olympiad, were held in Paris, France, marking a significant moment in the history of the Olympic movement. These Games were notable for being the first to adopt an Olympic motto—Citius, Altius, Fortius (Faster, Higher, Stronger)—and for successfully concluding with a formal closing ceremony that included the raising of flags for the International Olympic Committee, the host nation, and the next host nation. Attracting 3,089 athletes from 44 countries, the Games featured 126 events across 19 sports, as well as concurrent arts competitions in architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture.
Despite the lingering effects of World War I and political tensions—most notably the absence of Germany and Russia—these Olympics showcased the unifying power of sports. Highlights included notable performances by American athlete William Dehart Hubbard, who became the first African American to earn an Olympic gold medal in an individual event, and Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi, who excelled in five events. The United States dominated the medal count, winning 45 gold medals, while Uruguay won the football gold and initiated the tradition of the victory lap. The 1924 Games not only demonstrated the growing international appeal of the Olympics but also set important precedents, such as establishing a standard marathon distance of 26.2 miles and the introduction of marked lanes in swimming competitions.
Olympic Games of 1924 (Summer)
The Event: International athletic competition showcasing over three thousand athletes from forty-four countries
Also known as: Games of the VIII Olympiad
Date: May 4–July 27, 1924
Place: Paris, France
The 1924 Summer Olympics testified to the growing worldwide appeal of the Olympic Games. These were the first Olympic Games to use an Olympic motto and to conclude with a closing ceremony and the raising of three flags, those of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the host country, and the next host country.
The Games of the VIII Olympiad were held in 1924 in Paris, France. Paris was chosen to host the Games over the bids of cities including Amsterdam, Berlin, Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro, and Rome. Paris was the home of Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the organization responsible for reviving and running the Olympic Games in the twentieth century. The 1924 Summer Olympics were de Coubertin’s last as president of the IOC. The Paris Games attracted 3,089 athletes from forty-four countries to compete in 126 events. As Europe was still recovering from the devastating effects of World War I, a strong political shadow still lingered, as neither Germany nor Russia was invited to participate; even France’s occupation of the Ruhr area was unsettling to many. France’s financial problems and a devastating spring flood only added to the tensions as the Games neared. However, the popularity of the Games smoothed over international conflict and indicated the widespread appeal of sports and the Olympic ideal.
The Games
In order to better accommodate the large number of visiting athletes, a number of temporary structures were erected around the city’s Olympic Stadium, called the “Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir,” giving rise to the first use of the term “Olympic Village.” The Games were officially opened on May 4, 1924, by Gaston Doumergue, the prime minister of France, who would soon afterward become president of France. The Olympic Oath was taken by athlete Georges André of France, who was competing in his fourth Olympic Games since 1908. The opening ceremonies were held in the stadium known as the Stade de Colombes, which held forty-five thousand spectators. The Games featured 126 events in nineteen sports on the program, along with seven demonstration sports, including volleyball. The events were staged in seventeen venues in and around Paris. Concurrent arts competitions in architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture were held along with the sporting events, and medals were awarded in most of them.
Notable Performances
The highlights of the Games were in the athletic events. William Dehart Hubbard became the first African American to win an Olympic gold medal in an individual event, the running long jump. Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi won gold medals in each of his five events, and his fellow Finn Ville Ritola won four gold and two silver medals for races. These “Flying Finns” were two in a long line of athletes to share that nickname. Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell of Great Britain had their gold medal wins in the 100-meter and 400-meter race memorialized in the 1981 motion picture Chariots of Fire. French fencer Roger Ducret also won five medals, including three gold medals. Legendary Hawaiian swimmer Duke Kahanamoku was defeated in the 100-meter freestyle race by fellow American swimmer Johnny Weissmuller, who won three gold medals in swimming, along with a bronze medal in water polo. Future pediatrician Benjamin Spock, along with future founder of First National City Bank of New York (later Citibank) James Stillman Rockefeller, won gold medals in rowing for the United States. Future Washington Redskins coach Dudley DeGroot anchored the gold medal–winning U.S. rugby team. American athlete Gertrude Ederle won three medals in swimming, while American teammates Helen Mills and Helen Wightman each won two gold medals in tennis. In fact, of the eight double-medal winners in women’s competitions, seven were from the United States.
Summary of Competition
These Games exhibited some of the political tensions that the world was attempting to forget. Controversy accompanied some of the sports, such as the host country’s negative reaction to American competitors’ success. Fencers from Hungary and Italy fought a duel four months after the Games had ended, reflecting issues of national pride. Despite the difficulties the IOC would have dealing with international sports federations, the 1924 Summer Olympics were the first Olympic Games to set a standard distance for the marathon (26.2 miles) and to use a 50-meter swimming pool with marked lanes. The national anthems of the victorious athletes accompanied the awarding of medals. The United States won forty-five gold medals, which amounted to more than the total medal count of any of the remaining forty-three nations. Finland and France, with fourteen and thirteen gold medals, respectively, were the only other countries to secure more than nine gold medals. In the track and field events, the United States won thirty-two of its total ninety-nine medals. In fact, the United States, Finland, and Great Britain won a collective sixty of the eighty-one total medals awarded in the twenty-seven men’s events. American divers won eleven of the fifteen medals awarded in the five diving events. Uruguay outscored its five football opponents, winning the gold before an estimated sixty thousand people and promptly initiating the victory lap tradition by running around the stadium thanking the crowd. Czechoslovakian gymnasts won nine of the twenty-eight medals in that sport; France and Switzerland captured all but six of the remaining gymnastics medals. Sweden won all three medals in the modern pentathlon, while American tennis players swept the medals in their discipline. American swimmers, both men and women, won nineteen of thirty-three total medals awarded in their discipline. Finland was dominant in freestyle swimming and Greco-Roman wrestling.
Impact
International sporting events like the British and French Open in golf and tennis were already extremely popular, so when over one thousand journalists descended on Paris to report on the Olympic Games, it was a further sign that the Olympic Games had matured and that de Coubertin’s ideals of international athletic competition had gained widespread acceptance. Despite the concerns expressed by London’s The Times newspaper that such sport competitions only served to further nationalistic pride and divisiveness, going so far as to suggest that the Games should be abolished or at least that Great Britain should withdraw, countries from around the world sent their best athletes to test the idea that sport could transcend politics. The Paris Games were the first to return to a previous host city and debuted the Olympic motto Citius, Altius, Fortius (Faster, Higher, Stronger).
Bibliography
Beck, Peter. “Politics and the Olympics: The Lesson of 1924.” History Today 30, no. 7 (July, 1980): 7–9. Details the political climate after World War I and its lingering effect on the competitions at the Paris Games.
Dabney, Wendell Phillips. Cincinnati’s Colored Citizens: Historical, Sociological, and Biographical. Reprint. Cincinnati, Ohio: Ohio Book Store, 1988. Provides background and biographical information about Cincinnati athlete William Dehart Hubbard, the first African American to win an Olympic gold medal in an individual event, in this case the running long jump at the 1924 Summer Games.
Guttmann, Allen. The Olympics: A History of the Modern Games. 2d ed. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002. A chronologically organized study of the Olympic Games’ political and social significance, written for an undergraduate audience.
Johnson, William Oscar. The Olympics: A History of the Games. New York: Bishop Books, 1996. Provides an overview of the Olympic Games, including statistics, surrounding issues, and impact.
Phillips, Ellen. The VIII Olympiad: Paris 1924, St. Moritz 1928. New York: Firefly Books, 1996. Details the events and the stories behind the 1924 Summer Games in Paris, France.
The Olympic Games: Athens 1896–Athens 2004. New York: Dorling Kindersley, 2004. Provides a visual history of the modern Olympic Games, discussing background information and a chronology of events and medalists.