78 Years Ago in TIME

Today the Winter Olympics get cover stories in TIME and wall-to-wall television reportage. For the very first Winter Games, held in Chamonix, France, in 1924, TIME devoted a single column to the events. JOHN HESSIN CLARKE, U.S. Supreme Court Justice from 1918 to 1922, appeared on the cover.

The Winter Sports division of the Olympic Games closed at Chamonix, with Norway the decisive victor, having scored 134 1/2 of the 391 points allotted…The great event of the week was the final in hockey, in which Canada defeated the U.S., 6-1. It was a contest between Canadian teamwork and American individual stars. In twenty seconds after the play began a Canadian was sent sprawling. Before two minutes had elapsed an American was laid out by a Canadian’s stick. From start to finish the players knocked each other about so that the game was a succession of man-ruled-out-for-two-minutes and man-retired-for-injuries. The only U.S. goal came when Drury took the puck down the ice through the Canadian team. The Canadian goals came as the result of short, accurate, decisive passes…

In fancy skating for women, Mme. Herman Szabo-Plank of Austria won first, with Miss Beatrice Loughan, American, second, and Miss Theresa Blanchard of America, fourth.

–TIME, Feb. 11, 1924