FLAT CAPS, three-piece suits and ties and athletes puffing on their pipes – welcome to the first ever Winter Olympics.
It was like an episode of Miss Marple on Ice.
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Britain’s gold medal-winning curling team in plus-fours and ties
Chamonix 1924 Official Olympic Report
The Swedish curling team take a break and one enjoys a puff on his pipe
These amazing pics of the first ever Winter Olympics, held in Chamonix in the French Alps, in 1924, show just how much the world has changed.
Helmets and safety equipment were nowhere to be seen.
Lycra was several decades away from even being invented.
The bobsleighs looked like something banged together in someone’s garage… probably because they were.
The BBC’s Repair Shop would have a field day.
It was a very different type of Olympics 98 years ago.
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A bobsleigh used by the French team at the first Winter Olympic Games at Chamonix in 1924
Chamonix 1924 Official Olympic Report
The British bobsleigh team bravely ride the course at Chamonix
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Speedskaters at the starting line at the first Winter Games
Chamonix 1924 Official Olympic Report
The American bobsleigh team show off their flamboyant uniforms
Back in 1924, there were 258 athletes competing for 16 gold medals, and Britain actually came third in the medal table.
One of the most celebrated competitors was Norwegian ice skater Sonja Henie, who was just 11 years old.
She came last, out of eight entrants, but went on to win gold medals at the next three Winter Olympics.
Chamonix 1924 Official Olympic Report
Norway’s Sonja Henie, 11, who came last in figure skating
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Sonja Henie later became a Hollywood star, seen here with Tyrone Power in Second Fiddle
Chamonix 1924 Official Olympic Report
Norway’s Jacob Tullin Thams went on to win a gold medal in the ski jump
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American goalkeeper La Croix, during ice hockey practice at the rink at Chamonix
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Charles Jewtraw became the first American to win a gold medal in Winter Olympic competition with victory in the 500m speedskating event
Crowds gather to watch the ice hockey competition at the first ever Winter Olympics
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French athletes swear to uphold the Olympic spirit in what looks like a forerunner of the Nazi salute
Official poster for the first Winter Olympics from 98 years ago
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A gold winner’s medal from the 1st Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix
Another poster publicising the Winter Olympics in 1924
Henie moved to American and became a Hollywood superstar who famously had an affair with boxer Joe Louis.
Britains’s only gold came in the curling, where the Scots dominated.
The four-man team wore jackets and ties, plus-fours and flat-cap bunnets on their heads.
Things have changed enormously since those halycon days.
This year’s Games open on Friday when 2,871 athletes from 91 countries descend on Beijing in China, chasing 109 gold medals.
Sadly, no pipes, ties or plus-fours.
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American skaters practising for the 1924 Winter Olympics at Chamonix
Chamonix 1924 Official Olympic Report
The first Winter Olympics proved popular with fans who flocked to Chamonix for the competition
