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The official poster for the Chamonix Winter Games, designed by Auguste Matisse.
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Chamonix was buzzing with athletes and delegates around the Saint-Michel Church and Hotel de Ville for the opening ceremony.
Photograph: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
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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
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Chamonix’s equestrian stadium made the ideal venue for the festival of winter sports.
Photograph: AP
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USA speed skaters on the mark for a practice run. The four-man team took gold.
Photograph: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
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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
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Jewtraw approaches the line to take gold, recording 44 seconds exactly.
Photograph: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
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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.
Photograph: Central Press/Getty Images
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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.
Photograph: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
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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.
Photograph: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
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Planck-Szabo on her way to winning women’s figure skating gold medal.
Photograph: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
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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
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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.
Photograph: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
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Czech cross-country skier Stefan Hevak in the men’s 18km event.
Photograph: Alamy
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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.
Photograph: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
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The British four-man bobsleigh team in action. Ralph Broome, Thomas Arnold, Alexander Richardson and Rodney Soher took silver, behind …
Photograph: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
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... Switzerland, who won gold.
Photograph: ullstein bild Dtl./ullstein bild/Getty Images
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The triumphant Swiss team in the military patrol event, which consisted of cross-country skiing, ski mountaineering and rifle shooting.
Photograph: Alamy
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The USA ice hockey team poses before practice.
Photograph: Bettmann/Bettmann Archive
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The Canadian ice hockey team, the Toronto Granites, score during the final in which they beat the USA 6-1 to take the gold medal.
Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty Images
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The British gold medal-winning curling team.
Photograph: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
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A poster designed by Roger Soubie.
Photograph: Alamy