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1924 Summer Olympics

Multi-sport event in Paris, France

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The selection process for the 1924 Summer Olympics consisted of six bids, and Paris was selected ahead of Amsterdam, Barcelona, Los Angeles, Prague, and Rome. The selection was made at the 20th IOC Session in Lausanne in 1921. The cost of these Games was estimated to be 10,000,000 F (equivalent to €10.9 million in 2025). With total receipts at 5,496,610 F (equivalent to €5.97 million in 2025), the Olympics resulted in a hefty loss despite daily crowds of up to 60,000. The United States won the most gold and overall medals, having 229 athletes competing compared to France's 401. This would be the last Summer Games hosted by France until 2024.

Highlights

  • The Uruguay national football team won the gold medal in football, which was recognized as a world championship by FIFA.
  • The opening ceremony and several sporting events took place in the Olympic Stadium of Colombes, which had a capacity of 45,000 in 1924.
  • This VIII Olympiad was the last one organized under the presidency of Pierre de Coubertin.
  • The "Flying Finns" dominated the long-distance running, while the British and Americans dominated the shorter events. Paavo Nurmi won the 1500 m and 5,000 m (which were held with only an hour between them) and the cross-country run. Ville Ritola won the 10,000 m and the 3,000 m steeplechase while finishing second to Nurmi in the 5,000 m and cross country. Albin Stenroos won the marathon, while the Finnish team (with Nurmi and Ritola) was victorious in the 3,000 m and cross-country team events.
  • The British runners Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell won the 100 m and the 400 m events, respectively. Liddell refused to compete in the 100-metre sprint because it was held on a Sunday, and he was an observant Christian. Their stories were depicted in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire. In addition, Douglas Lowe won the 800-metre competition.
  • DeHart Hubbard became the first African-American to win an individual gold medal in the Long jump.
  • The marathon distance was fixed at 42.195 km (26.219 mi), from the distance run at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London.
  • The 1924 Olympics were the first to use the standard 50 m pool with marked lanes.
  • Dual-sport athlete Johnny Weissmuller won three gold medals in swimming and one bronze in water polo.
  • Harold Osborn won gold medals and set Olympic records in the high jump and the 1924 Olympic decathlon. His 6' 6" high jump remained the Olympic record for 12 years, while his decathlon score of 7,710.775 points also set a world record and resulted in worldwide press coverage recognizing him as the "world's greatest athlete."
  • Fencer Roger Ducret of France won five medals, of which three were gold.
  • In gymnastics, 24 men scored a perfect 10. Twenty-three scored it in the now-discontinued rope climbing event. Albert Seguin scored a ten here and a perfect ten on the side vault.
  • The Olympic motto Citius, Altius, Fortius (Faster, Higher, Stronger) was used for the first time at the Olympics. It had been used before by the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques, a French sporting federation whose founding members included Pierre de Coubertin. De Coubertin took the motto from his friend Henri Didon, a Dominican priest who had coined the phrase during a speech before a Paris youth gathering of 1891.
  • Ireland was given formal recognition as an independent nation in the Olympic Movement in Paris in 1924, and it was at these games that Ireland made its first appearance in the Olympic Games as an independent nation.
  • Originally called Semaine des Sports d'Hiver ("Week of Winter Sports") and held in association with the 1924 Summer Olympics, the sports competitions held in Chamonix between 25 January and 5 February 1924 were later designated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the I Olympic Winter Games. (1924 Winter Olympics)
  • These were the first Games to have an Olympic Village.
  • The Art competitions at the 1924 Summer Olympics were the first time that the Olympic Art competitions were contested seriously, with 193 entries in five categories. A total of 14 medals were awarded, though none were given in the music category.

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