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Writer's pictureBelinda McMartin
Aug 45 min read

Coming Full Circle - 100 Years since the last time the Olympics were in Paris, France

A century ago the Olympic Games were held in Paris, France (5-27 July 1924).


Eight nations made their independent Olympic debut. These were:

  • Ecuador

  • Haiti

  • Ireland

  • Latvia

  • Lithuania

  • Philippines

  • Poland

  • Uruguay


Of the 3,089 athletes just 135 were women (that’s just 4% of athletes, but so date this was the largest number of women to attend an Olympic Games). The women represented just 20 nations, which is less than half of the 44 nations present at the games (Australia was one of those with no female athletes).

 

Many nations had women within their national teams for the first time. These nations were Hungary, Poland, India, Luxembourg, Spain and Greece. Czechoslovakia also debuted women for the first time in their team; however technically, back in 1908 when Bohemia competed (which was a precursor of Czechoslovakia) there was a female in the team; therefore 1924 was not necessarily the first time women competed.


Ireland, who made made their Olympic debut as a nation at the 1924 games, also had female participants. This made Ireland one of very few nations to make their Olympic debut (up to and including 1924) with a co-ed team. In fact, just two other nations had made their Olympic debut (up to and including 1924) with a co-ed team. Though both have some technicalities around this fact, the two nations were South Africa and New Zealand.


In 1904 at the USA's St. Louis games, though South Africa didn't yet exist as a nation, a Boer team of local workers in St. Louis competed in the tug of war competition. In 1908 an official South Africa team debuted and the team included women. Interestingly, South Africa the nation wasn’t created until 1910 but the sports union was established in 1907 which was how the team debuted at the 1908 games.


In 1920 New Zealand debuted as a separate nation (previously having competed as Australasia with Australia). In this 1920 team was a female swimmer. The 1912 Australasian team had comprised women but they were from Australia not New Zealand so technically New Zealand debuted with a co-ed team.

Olympic Opening Ceremony, Paris, France 1924 (Source: International Olympic Committee)

Women at the 1924 Games

At the 1924 games, of the 17 sport being held, women were only able to contest diving, swimming, fencing, sailing and tennis (this was the highest number of sports available to women at an Olympic games). Here are some interesting facts from these female events:


  • Swede Hjordis Topel and American Aileen Riggin both won medals in the diving event as well as a swimming event. This made them the first women to win medals in two different sports at the same Olympics.

  • In the sailing event just one woman participated. That was Ella Maillart who was a Swiss adventurer and travel writer. She finished 9th out of a field of 17.

  • French Olympian Suzanne Kiffer-Porte competed in the 200m breaststroke however at the 1921 and 1922 women’s Olympiad she competed in the 800m running race. To read more about the women's Olympiad click here.


Pictured here left to right: Ella Maillart, Aileen Riggin and Hjordis Topel (Sources: Skipper Magazine, Internastional Swimming Hall of Fame and Swedish Olympic Committee).


More 1924 Sporting Facts

Fencing had been contested since the first Olympic games in 1896 however it wasn’t until 1924 that women were permitted to compete. There was a controversy around the scoring of the men’s fencing event and so a real duel took place between the Captain of the Italian fencing team and the son of the Hungarian coach. The duel was fought near the Hungarian border and was terminated after just two minutes. It is unclear what the final outcome of this real duel was!

Dick Eve competes in the diving competition, 15 July 1924 (Source: Australian Olympic Committee)

Diving was introduced to the games in 1904 with women permitted to enter from 1912. Notably the dominant nation in diving at this time was Sweden. Their success during these early days of the Olympics has meant that, even though they have only won 3 medals in diving in the last 100 years they still sit on the all-time diving medal winners table in 3rd position!


Dick Eve became the first Australian to win a gold medal in diving. He was ineligible to attend the 1928 games due to his job as the manager of the Manly Baths which shifted him from the status of amateur (which was what all athletes at the games had to be) to professional.


These were the last games to include Rugby Union in its full form. In 2016 Rugby 7s a shorter & faster paced version was introduced. Interestingly since the inclusion of the sport in 1900 the dominant nation was the USA with two gold medals in the sport. At the 1908 games the top British players were touring New Zealand during the Olympics, so the Cornwall County Team represented Great Britain. This was the year the Australasian team (members made up from Australia & New Zealand) took home the gold.


In addition to Topel and Riggin, who were the first females to medal in two different events at the same Olympics; there were three men who also won medals in two different sports at these games . While this wasn't the first time a man had medalled in two different events (in fact in 1904 two individuals medalled in THREE different sports)*, it is still a great feat. These three men were American's Johnny Weissmuller and Wally O'Conner and Belgian Joseph De Combe. Weissmuller took home three gold medals in the swimming while O'Conner took home one swimming gold. Both of the Americans won bronze as members of the USA water polo team. Belgian De Combe also won in the same two events, taking home silver in both water polo and swimming.


After beginning on 5 July, the Olympic Games ended on 27 July 1924. The USA topped the medal tally, taking home 99 medals in total with 45 being gold. This was well beyond the nation that finished second, Finland who went home with 37 medals, 14 of them being gold. The host nation France finished third, while Australia came eleventh (taking home 3 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals).

The Olympic pool at the 1924 games. At the time of the photo water polo was being played (Source: International Olympic Committee)

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*These two men were Leo Goodwin of the USA and Frank Kugler of Germany. Goodwin won Gold in swimming and water polo with a bronze in diving while Kugler won a silver in wrestling, two bronze medals in weightlifting and a bronze in tug of war.

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Further Reading:

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