The official poster for the Chamonix Winter Games, designed by Auguste Matisse.
Chamonix was buzzing with athletes and delegates around the Saint-Michel Church and Hotel de Ville for the opening ceremony.
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Originally named Winter Sports Week, the event was retrospectively named the First Olympic Winter Games The US team arrive for the opening ceremony in Chamonix.
Photograph: AP
Chamonix’s equestrian stadium made the ideal venue for the festival of winter sports.
Photograph: AP
USA speed skaters on the mark for a practice run. The four-man team took gold.
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On the morning of 26 January, American speed skater Charles Jewtraw won the first ever Winter Olympic gold medal in the 500m.
Photograph: George Rinhart/Corbis/Getty Images
Jewtraw approaches the line to take gold, recording 44 seconds exactly.
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More than 250 athletes from 16 nations took part in 14 events. Norwegian ice-skater Sonja Henie made her debut aged 11 and came last.
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Henie skates for the judges. Undeterred, Henie went on to win gold in 1928 at St Moritz and in 1932 at Lake Placid.
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Figure skaters Herma Planck-Szabo of Hungary, Ethel Muckelt of Britain and Beatrix Loughran of the USA. Planck-Szabo won gold, with Loughran and Muckelt taking silver and bronze respectively.
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Planck-Szabo on her way to winning women’s figure skating gold medal.
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Norwegian Narve Bonna takes part in the ski jump. The winter games were held in the same year as the summer games until 1992.
Photograph: Alamy
Norwegian ski jumper Jacob Tullin Thams on his way to gold. He went on to win a medal in the summer games in 1936 as part of the Norwegian eight-metre sailing team.
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Czech cross-country skier Stefan Hevak in the men’s 18km event.
Photograph: Alamy
A team is towed by horse to the starting point of the bobsleigh event at the Piste de Bobsleigh des Pélerins, named after the glacier in which it was carved.
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The British four-man bobsleigh team in action. Ralph Broome, Thomas Arnold, Alexander Richardson and Rodney Soher took silver, behind …