Speed skating at the 1924 Winter Olympics – Men's 500 metres

Men's 500 metres speed skating
at the I Olympic Winter Games
Refer to caption
Gold medallist Charles Jewtraw in 1921
Venue Stade Olympique de Chamonix
Date 26 January 1924
Competitors 27 from 10 nations
Winning time 44.0 OR
Medalists
1st, gold medalist(s) Charles Jewtraw  United States
2nd, silver medalist(s) Oskar Olsen  Norway
3rd, bronze medalist(s) Roald Larsen  Norway
3rd, bronze medalist(s) Clas Thunberg  Finland

The 500 metres speed skating event at the 1924 Winter Olympics was held on 26 January 1924 at the Stade Olympique de Chamonix. One of four speed skating events to be contested at these Games, this was the first event ever contested at the Winter Olympics. The event was won by American Charles Jewtraw who became the first Winter Olympics gold medallist.[1]

Summary

The event required competitors to skate one and quarter laps of the 400 metre track. Under the rules of the International Skating Union, athletes raced in pairs in a straight time-trial event. Prior to the event, the pairs were determined by the drawing of lots. With 31 speed skaters from 13 nations due to compete, this was reduced to 27 from 10 nations after the withdrawal of four athletes, including Christfried Burmeister who was due to be Estonia's only representative at the inaugural Winter Games. He did not attend Chamonix but word failed to reach Games organisers in time.[2] This resulted in a slight reordering of skaters.[3]

Leading up the Games, the Finnish team was training in Davos where Clas Thunberg had set a time of 43.8 seconds, four tenths slower than Oscar Mathisen's world record.[1] Mathisen himself was unable to attend the Games due to his status as a professional.[4] The Americans contested metric events at Saranac Lake where Jewtraw clocked 46.6s. He also set a new world record in the 100 yard event in 9.4 seconds. Whilst Roald Larsen of Norway skated 44.6s in Frogner.[1]

Joe Moore of the United States and Eric Blomgren of Sweden became the first athletes to ever compete at the Winter Olympics, with Moore setting the first Olympic record covering the distance in 45.6 seconds. Asser Wallenius of Finland, bettered Moore's time by 0.6 second to move into first position with 11 skaters to go. Next to skate was the eventual silver medallist Norway's Oskar Olsen who crossed the line in 44.2 seconds. The defending world champion Clas Thunberg and Norway's Roald Larsen had to settle for sharing the bronze medal with a time of 44.8 seconds. The gold medal performance came from pair 15 where American Jewtraw was up against Charles Gorman. The Canadian took the lead, but was soon overtaken by Jewtraw finishing in a time of a 44 seconds flat.[1]

Jewtraw coming from a poor family found the sport expensive but found sponsorship from Lake Placid businessman Jack Mabbit. He had retired before the 1924 Games but made a comeback to compete. After the gold medal, he skated two more Olympic races before retiring once more.[1]

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World record Oscar Mathisen (NOR)43.4Davos, Switzerland17 January 1914
Olympic recordN/AN/AN/AN/A

The following records were set during this competition.

DateRoundAthleteCountryTimeRecord
26 January 1924Pair 1Joe Moore United States45.6OR
26 January 1924Pair 11Asser Wallenius Finland45.0OR
26 January 1924Pair 12Oskar Olsen Norway44.2OR
26 January 1924Pair 15Charles Jewtraw United States44.0OR

Results

The event began at 10:00.[3][5]

RankPairNameCountryTimeTime behindNotes
1st, gold medalist(s)15Charles Jewtraw United States44.0OR
2nd, silver medalist(s)12Oskar Olsen Norway44.2+0.2OR
=3rd, bronze medalist(s)17Roald Larsen Norway44.8+0.8[lower-alpha 1]
14Clas Thunberg Finland
511Asser Wallenius Finland45.0+1.0OR
613Axel Blomqvist Sweden45.2+1.2
715Charles Gorman Canada45.4+1.4
=81Joe Moore United States45.6+1.6OR
13Harald Strøm Norway
1010Julius Skutnabb Finland46.4+2.4
111Eric Blomgren Sweden46.6+2.6
126Harry Kaskey United States47.0+3.0
135Sigurd Moen Norway47.2+3.2
1412Bill Steinmetz United States47.8+3.8
153Léonhard Quaglia France48.4+4.4
1618Alberts Rumba Latvia48.8+4.8[lower-alpha 2]
174Leon Jucewicz Poland49.6+5.6
183Albert Hassler France50.6+6.6
1914Louis De Ridder Belgium52.8+8.8
2011André Gegout France53.2+9.2
2117George de Wilde France54.8+10.8[lower-alpha 3]
228Gaston Van Hazebroeck Belgium55.8+11.8
=238Frederick Dix Great Britain56.4+12.4
10Philippe Van Volckxsom Belgium
255Bernard Sutton Great Britain1:00.8+16.8
266Marcel Moens Belgium1:02.2+18.2
274Cyril Horn Great Britain1:04.4+20.4
2Christfried Burmeister EstoniaDNS
7Albert Tebbit Great BritainDNS
9A. K. Spengler SwitzerlandDNS
9G. Locatelli ItalyDNS

Officials

The officials for the events were as follows.[3]

RoleNameCountry
Judge RefereeCaptain HammerstadNorway
StarterHans VallarSwitzerland
TimekeeperCh. FarouxFrance
TimekeeperDegraineFrance
TimekeeperGouryFrance
TimekeeperMeiersFrance
TimekeeperCaptain LevalhatiFinland
TurnsPoplimontBelgium
TurnsTaylorUnited States
TurnsR. GeorgeFrance
Commissioners at the crossroadsSteen PetersonNorway
Commissioners at the crossroadsMaucourtFrance
Commissioners at the crossroadsValleyFrance
Delegates to the athletesCh. SabouretFrance
Delegates to the athletesBecciFrance

Notes

  1. Originally in pair 2 with Burmeister[3]
  2. Originally in pair 7 with Tebbit[3]
  3. Originally in pair 16 by himself[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Speed Skating at the 1924 Chamonix Winter Games: Men's 500 metres". sports-reference.com. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
  2. "I taliolümpiamängud Chamonix 1924 (25. jaanuar – 5. veebruar)". Postimees (in Estonian). 18 January 2006. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 M. A. Avé, ed. (1924). Les Jeux de la VIIIe Olympiade Paris 1924 – Rapport Officiel [The Games of the VIII Olympiad Paris 1924 – Official Report] (pdf) (Report) (in French). Paris: French Olympic Committee. pp. 669–70.
  4. "Speed Skating at the 1924 Chamonix Winter Games". sports-reference.com. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
  5. "Results of the men's 500 metres speed skating at the 1924 Winter Olympics". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.