Page "Speed skating" Paragraph 31

At the 1914 Olympic Congress, the delegates agreed to include ice speed skating in the 1916 Olympics, after figure skating had featured in the 1908 Olympics.

However, World War I put an end to the plans of Olympic competition, and it was not until the winter sports week in Chamonix in 1924 — retroactively awarded Olympic status — that ice speed skating reached the Olympic programme.

Charles Jewtraw from Lake Placid, New York, won the first Olympic gold medal, though several Norwegians in attendance claimed Oskar Olsen had clocked a better time.

Timing issues on the 500 were a problem within the sport until electronic clocks arrived in the 1960s ; during the 1936 Olympic 500 – metre race, it was suggested that Ivar Ballangrud's 500-metre time was almost a second too good.

Finland won the remaining four gold medals at the 1924 Games, with Clas Thunberg winning 1, 500 metres, 5, 000 metres, and allround.

It was the first and only time an allround Olympic gold medal has been awarded in speed skating.