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Here is the second of 21 episodes dedicated to the history of the Winter Olympic Games. After Chamonix, St. Moritz touches to the second edition of the "five white circles."
Sunday 29 December 2013 10 minutes reading time
In the famous Prague congress of 1925 the IOC not only states that the races are named Chamonix retrospectively "the first Winter Olympic Games," and that the White Olympics are held every four years in the same year as the summer ones, but also that the organizing country Summer Olympics takes priority of the corresponding organization for the winter. In 1921, the Summer Games of seven years after they had been assigned to the Dutch city Amsterdam but none presented himself as a candidate for those in the snow. They did this instead three Swiss cities: Davos and St. Moritz Engelberg and it quest'' last'' to be chosen by the IOC meeting in Lisbon in 1926 as the seat of the Games seconds whites.
The Olympics in St. Moritz are remembered for the return of Germany to the Games,'' despite the hostility of some nation, especially in Belgium, after the end of World War I had not been invited. But they also remember, in addition to the confirmation of the success he had had in Chamonix, also for being the first in which the weather has played a key role, not the cold or the snow but for the unusual heat in some the foehn days did raise the temperatures in summer levels. From 16 nations present in Chamonix takes you to the 25 in the Engadine, including Argentina, the first country in the Southern Hemisphere Games whites. From the official program disappear curling and the military patrols, relegated to the status of a demonstration sport at the company doing skijoring, skiing behind horses, made his debut instead skeleton, which is very popular in Switzerland and has its own in St. Moritz home, this race was dominated by American brothers Jennison Heaton with the largest to the smallest in front of Jack.
Even in the bob, this time with all the teams with five members, to dominate the United States and in particular the crew of 16 year old Billy Fiske, consisting of three-fifths of volunteers recruited from the Paris edition of the New York Herald Tribune, beats that drove just by Jennison Heaton leaving the bronze to Germany Hanns Kilian. In Nordic skiing, the protagonist is the Norwegian Johan Grøttumsbråten, which in Chamonix had brought home a silver and two bronzes in the 18 km and 50 km in the combined and this time it hits two gold, in the shortest distance of the fund and in the test strip. In the marathon of the ski is instead triplet Swedish Per Erik Hedlund gold in a day when the foehn raises the mercury up to 25 ° C! Her tight race, white suit with red cap, will remain the official Nordic skiers of Sweden until 1976.
The high temperatures also heavily influence the speed skating so much so that the longest race, that of the 10,000 meters, is discontinued after only five batteries and ten competitors because the ice is melting. At that time the head is in the U.S. Irving Jaffee and Norwegian specialties, believing that the Olympic title will be awarded to him, they go back home, so the race will not be recovered! Curious about the order of arrival of the 500 meters with two gold and three bronze medals ex-aequo, the two Olympic champions are the Norwegian Bernt Evensen and Clas Thunberg of Finland, still him, with the title in the 1500 right in front of Evensen arrives to a total of 5 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze in two editions of the Games, the 5000 triumph is the rising star Norwegian Ivar Ballangrud who takes home the bronze in the 1500.
Returning to the Nordic ski jump goes to the Norwegian Alf Andersen but his compatriot Jacob Tullin Thams, defending Olympic champion, comes in the second series the incredible distance of 73 feet, 9 longer than the winner, but falling into ruin. Is taken to the hospital and there are fears for his life but you will save, it will change the sport and in 1936 will be silver in the 8 meter class sailing in Berlin, one of the few to win an Olympic medal in both summer and winter. In the artistic male third consecutive title for the Swedish Gillis Grafström as four years earlier in front of the Austrian Willy Böckl, in pairs of two lovers French Andrée Joly and Pierre Brunet won the gold after winning the bronze Chamonix. In the artistic female begins the legend Sonja Henie (pictured at the 1936 Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen), the Norwegian who even at 12 years was the eighth and last arrived in Chamonix and that, after the first of ten consecutive world titles won in 1927 in his hometown, Oslo, won the first Olympic title in not even 16 years old.
Sonja will become a world famous person: it was the first ever to enter the choreography in his performances and was also revolutionary for this, in addition to the heat, the ice in St. Moritz was hot: the admiration and the warmth of the audience against him. In hockey Canada, given its superiority for now unassailable, is admitted directly to the final round for the gold in Sweden for which destroys 11-0, 14-0 to Great Britain and the hosts of Switzerland for 13 -0, 20 goals in less than the Swiss they had suffered in Chamonix! Italy, as in the previous edition, you do not bring home medals, the best result was fourth place Agostino Lanfranchi in the skeleton.
Summary
2nd edition of the Olympic Winter Games
Host city and date of the event: St. Moritz (Switzerland), 11-19 February 1928
Athletes participating: 463 (435 men, 28 women)
Participating countries: 25
Italian participants: 13 (all men)
Italian flag-bearer: Ferdinand Glück (cross country)
Securities allotted: 13 in 8 sports
Official opening: president of the Confederation Edmund Schulthess
Olympic athletes' oath: Hans Eidenbenz (Nordic Combined)
The medal
Norway: 6 gold 4 silver 5 bronze medals
United States: 2 gold 2 silver 2 bronze
Sweden: 2 gold 2 silver 1 bronze
Finland: 2 gold 1 silver 1 bronze
Canada: 1 gold
France: 1 gold
Austria: 3 silver 1 bronze
Belgium: 1 bronze
Czechoslovakia: 1 bronze
Germany: 1 bronze
Great Britain: 1 bronze
Switzerland: 1 bronze
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