The 1924 Winter Olympic Games

Illustration from January 1924 issue of "Sports de Neige et de Glace"

Held from January 25 to February 5, 1924, Semaine Internationale des Sports d'Hiver (International Winter Sports Week) in Chamonix, France was organized by the French Olympic Committee and originally grouped in with the 1924 Summer Olympic Games in Paris. Only after the fact was it recognized as the first Winter Olympic Games. Hailed in the February 13, 1924 issue of "La Presse Sportive" as "the most grandiose and most comprehensive demonstration of winter sports ever organized", the Games actually only garnered minimal public interest at the time. One journalist in "Les Jeunes" complained, "Despite the reminders made in the newspapers, the Winter Games in Chamonix do not seem to attract the general public." One suspected reason was the distance from the Mont Blanc railway stops to many of the event venues. That said, the twenty nine figure skaters from eleven nations who attended were determined to show their best.

Theresa Weld Blanchard

Twenty three year old Beatrix Loughran travelled to Europe with the U.S. Speed Skating Team aboard the Dollar Line steamship President Monroe. It was a very rough passage and many of the athletes travelling were seasick the entire time and rarely able to even make it up on deck. Thirty year old Theresa Weld Blanchard, thirty eight year old Nathaniel Niles and esteemed judge Charlie Morgan Rotch followed two weeks later on another steamer. Reigning U.S. men's champion Sherwin Badger was forced to withdraw at the eleventh hour as he was unable to arrange his business affairs to permit him to travel abroad. Steamship and railroad fares were covered by American Olympic Association; all other expenses were covered by club fundraising and the skaters themselves. Despite assurances to USFSA President Henry Wainwright Howe that Rotch's application to judge would be approved, it wasn't. He was instead appointed as referee for all events... leaving North American skaters with zero representation on any judging panel.

Beatrix Loughran with members of America's Olympic speed skating team

Originally, Canada was to send a team of four to Chamonix: Cecil Smith, Melville Rogers, Duncan McIntyre Hodgson and Dorothy Jenkins. Marjorie Annable and John (Juan) Zaldivar Machado were named as alternates. Ultimately, Hodgson, Jenkins and the two alternates were forced to miss the Games, their training halted by warm weather that caused them to miss ice time. The artificial plant at Toronto's Dupont Street Rink kept Smith and Rogers on the ice and well-practiced. After giving an exhibition in Saint John, New Brunswick, Smith and Rogers set sail for Europe aboard the R.M.S. Montcalm with the rest of Canada's small contingent, making a stop in England where Smith was mauled by reporters and ended up on the front page of newspapers. From England, the Canadians travelled by boat train to Paris and then took an overnight train to Chamonix.

Cecil Smith and Melville Rogers

Only nine days before the Olympic Games commenced, the 1924 European Championships were held in Davos, Switzerland. At that time, competitions in women's and pairs skating were not included, so only men's skaters were affected by the quick turnaround between the two events. Most of the top men of the era made the decision to participate in only one of the two events. Only Great Britain's Jack Ferguson Page and Switzerland's Georges Gautschi made the trek from Switzerland to France to participate in the Games. Notably, the reigning European and World Champion Fritz Kachler of Austria opted to forgo the Chamonix event... one he likely would have medalled at!

Skaters found the ice conditions to be less than adequate when they arrived in Chamonix. Forced to skate in a square rather than rectangular outdoor rink, almost every skater had to adjust their  programs to fit the surface at the last minute. After a few days of trying to rework their free figures and dance steps to the space, the weather turned warm and figure and speed skaters alike were herded into a tiny indoor curling rink to practice simultaneously!

Feg Murray cartoon of Nathaniel Niles

A lack of standardization in judging was another key problem. With nothing more than vague guidelines to judge skaters who performed in a wide range of styles, the more glaring issue than blatant national bias was the fact judges would tend to highly favour skaters performing in styles to which they were accustomed. One Monsieur Japiot educated spectators about what to look for when watching school figures, free skating and pairs performances in the January 17, 1924 issue of "Sports de Neige et de Glace". He warned spectators against skipping the school figures and then fussing when the most exciting free skaters didn't win. He also made it very clear that a live orchestra would be used to accompany all free skating programs and that music was "an important part of this kind of skating." The music situation at first caused a bit of hoopla. Nathaniel Niles noted, "An attempt was made to transmit through a loud speaker music played within the pavilion which, though
obviously a failure, could not be corrected... [Later] the orchestra was placed where it could be heard direct."

Georgette Herbos and Georges Wagemans of Belgium

The skater's lodgings also left much to be desired. The British contingent was initially put up in what British skater Mildred Richardson recalled as "a horrid little Pension - one bathroom on the ground floor, only 2 or 3 loos - and in addition we were expected to share bedrooms, which was not at all a popular idea as we were spoiled in those days." The Britons made such a fuss they were moved to the more comfortable Chamonix Palace, which was miles from the rink. American speed skating official Allan Muhr bemoaned that the food at this hotel was "entirely unsuited for training." The Canadians, who stayed in another venue at the Olympic Village constructed alongside Colombes Stadium, found the pastries and bowls of coffee they were served to be much more pleasing.

Theresa Weld Blanchard, Nathaniel Niles, Herma Szabo and hockey player Herb Drury in Chamonix. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

If the ice, lodgings, food, music and judging were cause for complaint, the logistics were downright laughable. In her memoir, Mildred Richardson recalled, "Figure skaters - men and women - had to share the same small dressing room with the hockey boys and speed skaters, who usually stripped to the buff when changing. It was, to say the least, somewhat embarrassing. However, the Canadians came to our rescue and rigged up a somewhat rickety screen for us 'dames'. In addition, in order to save ourselves a long walk along a cinder path to the rink - skate guards not being as sturdy as they are today - we had to go through the men's massage room. So loud cries heralded our approach, in order to spare everyone's blushes!"

Helene Engelmann and Alfred Berger

Held in very good weather conditions, the pairs competition was full of excitement and controversy.
Perhaps most controversial was Mildred and T.D. Richardson's shadow skating program, which wasn't well-received by the judges... including their own judge Herbert Ramon Yglesias. Before they even competed, Yglesias told the Richardson's they would be last on his card as he didn't consider what they were doing to be pair skating. Interestingly, Yglesias placed Ethel Muckelt and Jack Ferguson Page, who also included shadow skating in their program, first.

French illustration of Helene Engelmann's mother in Chamonix. Photo courtesy Bibliothèque nationale de France

Nathaniel Niles praised the form and carriage of his competitors Helene Engelmann and Alfred Berger but insisted that their program "was not a championship program... for it was mainly hand in hand, hence lacked variety." Though thoroughly Viennese in style, Engelmann and Berger's program did include highlights like spirals and small assisted lifts off the ice... which some of the others did not. Writing in the February 13, 1924 issue of the "Sport-Tagblatt", Austrian sportswriter D. Löffler denounced the performances of Engelmann and Berger's top competitors (Ludowika and Walter Jakobsson and Andrée Joly and Pierre Brunet) claiming that there was too much separation between partners in their programs and that their skating lacked "that something that distinguishes the Viennese... And this 'less' is not about the artists, but of their lack of musical feeling."

Ethel Muckelt and Jack Ferguson Page

Theresa Weld Blanchard and
Nathaniel Niles

Although five of the seven judges voted for the Austrians, the British judge for Muckelt and Page and the Belgian judge for the Jakobsson's - assuring Engelmann and Berger the win - Canadians Cecil Smith and Melville Rogers received the most applause, causing some French news sources to erroneously report that they'd won long before the results of the closed marking were even tabulated and publicly announced. They finished seventh and North American papers cried foul at the judges... to no end. Throwing a fit didn't work for Ulrich Salchow in London in 1908 nor did it work for a handful of wire reporters in 1924.

Andrée Joly

The women's school figures were contested under ideal weather conditions. Nathaniel Niles remarked that reigning World Champion Herma Szabo of Austria "skated her School Figures, with the exception of two, nearly equal to the best men. Her inner back counters were as fine as I have ever seen by either sex. Her outer back rockers and forward loop change loops, however, were not up to the high average of her other figures, though her loops were good. Her back rockers were turned too soon; both Miss Loughran and Mrs. Blanchard were better in this figure and to say that Miss Loughran's forward loop change loops were almost perfect on both feet, is not an exaggeration." Canada's Cecil Smith struggled, having developed chilblains on both feet so painful that she'd had limit her practices drastically. The morning the women's event started, there was confusion about the schedule and she had to be called at her hotel early in the morning and told to rush to the rink to compete. One headline famously read that she skated "benumbed and breakfastless" that day. After the figures, Szabo took a strong lead over Loughran, Ethel Muckelt, Theresa Weld Blanchard and Smith. 1920 Olympic Silver Medallist Svea Norén of Sweden, originally slated to compete, withdrew prior to the event.

Sonja Henie

In last place after figures was an eleven year old Norwegian skater who wasn't even supposed to be in Chamonix to start with. Originally, the Norwegians had not planned to send any figure skaters to the Games, but when wealthy furrier Wilhelm Henie offered to pay his daughter's way and act as her coach, they acquiesced. At first, little Sonja wasn't well-received. Performing a spiral, back scratch spin and sit spin on the tiny curling rink which was used for practices, one skating purist turned to T.D. Richardson and asked "What is this? A puppet show? A circus?" He replied, "No... THAT is the future of skating."

Herma Szabo

The eight women vying for gold in Chamonix had to perform their four minute free skating performances in very cold temperatures. The winds were high and the ice very hard and brittle. Nathaniel Niles admitted that Loughran "did not nearly do herself justice and doubtless was affected to a great extent by conditions." Weld Blanchard included clean Salchow and loop jumps in her performance but too was effected by the wind. Szabo appeared unphased by the weather conditions as she was used to training outdoors in Vienna. Niles likened her free skating to that of Ulrich Salchow: "A strong deliberate skater [with] little delicate touches." The Official Report of The Games reported that her free skating performance "was clearly the best of the lot, featuring the spread eagle and spins standing and sitting."

Unsurprisingly, little Sonja Henie proved to be a big hit with the audience. The fact that she more than once went over to her father during her free skating performance to ask him what to do next only endeared them to her more. That said, skating historian Gunnar Bang hinted that the marketing of a "ready-made product" had already begun in Chamonix and that Papa Henie was already at that point very much trying to drum up support for his daughter. In her book "Wings On My Feet", Henie proclaimed, "I don't like to think what might have happened if I had become Olympic champion at the age of ten. It might have gone to my head, and surely would have robbed me of the fun and fine training of four years' work toward that goal."

Ultimately, Szabo claimed the gold unanimously by quite a landslide. Loughran, some twenty points behind on almost every judge's scorecard, was unanimously second. The battle for bronze was extremely close, with Muckelt claiming three thirds, Weld Blanchard two and Andrée Joly one. Muckelt ultimately defeated Weld Blanchard by only one ordinal placement to take the final spot on the podium. To this day, Muckelt (who was thirty eight in Chamonix) remains the oldest female figure skater to have ever won an Olympic medal. Despite Szabo's impressive performance, it has been claimed that she actually believed she had lost to Loughran and her father had to go retrieve her from her hotel when the Austrian anthem was being played. Her win in the women's event and her cousin Helene Engelmann's win in pairs with Alfred Berger marked the first and only time in Olympic history that members of the same family won gold medals in different figure skating disciplines at the same Olympic Games. Quoted in the documentary "ISU: 100 Years Of Skating 1892-1992" Szabo reminisced, "We weren't dressed as nicely. Now they all wear the same outfits. We wore what we had, but we were four people, my father who accompanied me carried the flag, and the trainer, who was with us, carried the Austrian sign. We were four people and we brought home four medals. I was so fascinated by the Americans and the Canadians. We had never seen them before. We were so shy that we almost forgot to train."

Gillis Grafström

A fall of light snow before the men's school figures wasn't carefully swept off, leaving the ice in good - but not great - condition. The event was an all day affair, lasting from nine thirty in the morning to quarter after five in the evening. A lunch break was used as a free skating practice. Thirty year old Gillis Grafström of Sweden, the devilishly handsome defending Olympic Champion, was suffering from a nasty case of the flu and a high fever. Between each of the twelve figures, he took a big swig of brandy to keep going. Mildred Richardson reminisced, "No one else but Grafström would have been able to stand up, let alone skate, after such medication but as always, he skated immaculately." Immaculately perhaps, but not without challenges. Mildred's wife T.D. recalled his loop figure "where he travelled around the last three loops in a crack about an inch deep. No other skater could have accomplished it."

Nathaniel Niles, Josef Slíva, Gillis Grafström and Freddy Mésot during the men's school figures. Charlie Morgan Rotch photograph, courtesy "Skating" magazine.

After the scores were tallied, Gillis Grafström had amassed a healthy lead over Willy Böckl of Austria and Georges Gautschi of Switzerland. Far back in seventh, Canada's Melville Rogers had all but removed himself from the medal equation.

Though not in his best form, Grafström managed to include an Axel, Salchow and two loops in his free skating performance. Skating historian Gunnar Bang noted that he skated "with a verve and security that [elicited] general enthusiasm [but] once, he nearly fell." Nathaniel Niles asserted "His form, if anything, seemed to me better than ever than ever and with his returning strength, two or three days more would have seen him at his best. To my mind, he is ideal; he skates in as correct form as I have ever seen, in absolutely his own way, as [Bror] Meyer or [Willie] Frick do the same in their way. All his movements seem most natural, yet no part of his style is incorrect."

The February 13, 1924 issue of "La Presse Sportive" went so far as to call Grafström "a modern god of skating." Yet, it was the athletic Böckl who narrowly edged the talented Swede in the free skate. Known for his high-flying Axels, the Austrian earned two first place marks overall... from the two Austrian judges on the panel. The Czechoslovakian judge voted for his country's sole entry, Josef Slíva, and the Swiss, British and two French judges placed Grafström first overall, ensuring him his second Olympic gold medal win. American Nathaniel Niles, who placed one spot ahead of Melville Rogers overall but finished ninth in the free skate, deducted his finish was perhaps owing to the fact that his program didn't include spins or a spread eagle. Reporting back on the event to his fellow Americans, he concluded, "Most in this country, I think, will agree that unless done extremely well they add nothing to the beauty of a performance." A lot has certainly changed in the last century.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

Brains, Brawn And Bad Judging: The Alexia And Yngvar Bryn Story

Yngvar and Alexia Bryn and Richard Johansson. Photo courtesy Länsmuseet Gävleborg.

When one looks back at Norwegian skating history, the first name that undoubtedly comes to mind is Sonja Henie. She may have been the most decorated skater in her country's history, but she wasn't the first skater from Norway to win an Olympic medal. At the 1920 Summer Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium, Norway's Andreas Krogh and Martin Stixrud claimed the silver and bronze medals in the men's event. One day prior, a married couple from Oslo named Alexia and Yngvar Bryn made history as the first figure skaters from Norway to claim an Olympic medal. To this day, they are the only pairs skaters from their country to medal at the Games. Today, with thanks to Hasse Farstad at the Skøytemuseet in Oslo for some much-needed clarifications, we will take a look back at their story and by extension, Yngvar Bryn's controversial career as a figure skating judge.

Carl Albert Andersen and Yngvar Bryn at the 1900 Summer Olympic Games

Born December 17, 1881 in Kristiansand, Yngvar Bryn was the youngest of the six children of military captain Ludvig August Bryn and his wife Mathilde (Fugelli). When Yngvar was one year old, his father died. Yngvar, his widowed mother and five siblings were taken in first by an aging tailor and his wife and then by Yngvar's aunt Marie. Contrasting brains and brawn, Yngvar spent his youth swimming, fencing and skiing but studied philosophy at Oslo University. He was a member of the decorated IK Tjalve sports club and in 1899 won the silver medals in the one hundred meter and five hundred meter races at the Norwegian Athletic Championships. The following year, he won the national running title at eighteen and was named to the 1900 Olympic team. As one of the first seven athletes from his country ever to participate in the Olympics, he was eliminated in the initial round of both the two hundred and four hundred meter races. Undeterred by his loss, Yngvar went on to win another national title in the five hundred meters and set a new (short-lived) national record for the distance.

Alexia and Yngvar Bryn at the 1909 World Championships. Photo courtesy Oslo Museum.

Yngvar was elected as the President of the Norwegian Athletic Federation at the age of twenty six and served a three year term in his position but around the same time he developed a keen interest in figure skating and joined the Christiania Skating Club. There he met Alexia Marie Johnsen Schøien, the teenage daughter of Andreas Johnsen Schøien and Marthe Karine Torgersen. They joined forces as a pairs team and won their first of ten Norwegian titles in 1908.

Top: A who's who of early twentieth century Scandinavian figure skating. From left to right: Ludovika Jakobsson, Martin Stixrud, Walter Jakobsson, Alexia Bryn, Svea Norén, Anna-Lisa Allardt, Yngvar Bryn, Gunnar Jakobsson, Gillis Grafström and Björnsson Schauman. Bottom: Andreas Krogh, Margot Moe, Ingrid Guldbransen, Alexia and Yngvar Bryn and Martin Stixrud at the 1920 Summer Olympic Games. Bottom: 

After placing dead last at the 1909 World Championships in Stockholm, Alexia and Yngvar returned to the World Championships in 1912 and claimed the bronze medal. Shortly thereafter, they married. Although their career was interrupted by World War I, the Bryn's managed to win the silver medal at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, the gold medal at the 1922 Nordic Games and the silver medal at the 1923 World Championships in Oslo.

When the Bryn's retired in 1923, Alexia reinvented herself as a competitive swimmer, cyclist and skiier. Yngvar penned three figure skating books "Skøiteløpning", "Haandbok i Kunstløp paa skøiter" and "Kunstløps A-B-C". He also served as President of the Norwegian Skating Association in 1926 and 1927, was a member of the ISU Judges Committee and an ISU Council member from 1925 to 1927.

Yngvar started judging while he was still competing and developed a pretty glaring track record of nationalistic bias. At the 1913 European Championships in Oslo, he placed Norway's Martin Stixrud (who finished sixth) ahead of winner Ulrich Salchow. At the 1922 European Championships in Davos, he again placed Stixrud ahead of winner Willy Böckl. Seeing a pattern here? I am not even done! At the 1926 World Championships in Berlin, he had Sonja Henie and Arne Lie first in the pairs competition. They ended up fifth. At both the 1932 Winter Olympics and World Championships, he was the Norwegian judge on the panels of the women's competitions where Sonja Henie won and perhaps most damningly, he served as the President of the Norwegian Skating Association in 1927... the year that Sonja Henie defeated Herma Szabo at the World Championships in Oslo with a panel that consisted of three Norwegian judges, a German and an Austrian. I think it's reasonable to assume that he and Papa Henie were well acquainted.

Wrapping up his judging career around the time Sonja Henie wrapped up her competitive one, Yngvar took a job as a high school gymnastics teacher. He passed away in Oslo at the age of sixty five on April 30, 1947. Alexia passed away thirty six years later at the age of ninety four on July 18, 1983. The Bryn's Olympic medals are in the collection of the Skøytemuseet in Oslo and they remain, despite Yngvar's historically overlooked judging transgressions, two of Norway's most important pioneers in winter sport.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

The 1920 Summer Olympic Games

After a meeting between Belgian Olympic officials and ISU President Viktor Balck, a general program written in both English and French was distributed to each of the member federations of the International Skating Union in January 1920, inviting them to send figure skaters to compete in the 1920 Summer Olympic Games. The exceptions were Germany, Austria, Hungary and other AXIS countries from World War I, who were not permitted to participate by Olympic organizers. This communication was vague at best, specifying only that competitions would be held in men's and women's singles skating and pairs skating and that each country could send a maximum of six entries. Ultimately, twenty six skaters from eight nations made their way to Belgium over the course of the following months to compete at the Games in Antwerp.

Theresa Weld Blanchard, Nathaniel Niles and Mrs. Niles prepare to board the S.S. Finland

The American team was organized by Cornelius Fellowes, a hockey man affiliated with the International Skating Union of America. Fellowes first asked Sherwin Badger, the reigning U.S. men's champion, to make the trek to Europe. He declined due to his studies at Harvard University. Fellowes then asked Bostonians Nathaniel Niles and Theresa Weld Blanchard, who re-arranged their affairs on short notice and accepted the offer. Weld Blanchard left with Mr. and Mrs. Niles, Mr. and Mrs. Fellowes and the American hockey team on April 7, 1920 on the S.S. Finland sailing directly from New York to Belgium.

The Palais de Glace d'Anvers

Fellowes (who acted as Team Manager for both the figure skaters and hockey players) recalled, "Everyone in the party had the very best of accommodations on shipboard." Weld Blanchard remarked, "The voyage was very slow, thirteen days, and some anxiety was felt that the teams would not reach Antwerp in time, but two days out a wireless was received saying events had been postponed five days to allow our teams to arrive and have some little chance for practice." The Americans were met at the docks in Antwerp by officials from Belgian Olympic Committee and taken directly to the Palais de Glace d'Anvers, constructed on Rue de la Santé specifically for the Games. Skating historian Gunnar Bang noted, "What struck the strangers [to Belgium] most was the extremely good ice." However, Weld Blanchard and Niles found the rink so crowded that they opted to practice in Brussels during the daytime and return by train to the Antwerp rink in the evenings to scope out their competition and be seen in front of the judges.

Ulrich Salchow

The 'big story' surrounding the figure skating events in Antwerp was thirty three year old Ulrich Salchow's comeback. The 1908 Olympic Gold Medallist and ten time World Champion hadn't competed since before the War but he had been spotted on the ice unusually often in Stockholm in the months leading up to his departure to Belgium. Two other Scandinavian skaters expected to make an impact at the Games, Ludowika and Walter Jakobsson, arrived a few weeks before the figure skating competition to practice every morning and afternoon at the Palais de Glace d'Anvers. Many Belgians flocked to see the talented pair skate in warm spring weather as it was a novelty. They made quite the sharp looking pair - he dressed in slacks, long socks and a sweater, white starched shirt and tie and her in an ankle length black dress and a smart jeweled black hat with a feathered spray.

The Norwegian figure skating team

The biggest complaint amongst many of the competitors was the fact that were not advised well in advance which school figures would be skated in Antwerp. Weld Blanchard complained, "Contestants were not given the school figures until they were ready to sail. One Swedish competitor complained that she had not received the figures till January! But they were not received in the
United States until April!"

Magda Julin

The decision to hold the women's event on April 24, 1920 prior to the men's and pairs events was actually based on the chivalric 'ladies first' custom. Magda (Mauroy) Julin, the wife of a Swedish sea captain fifteen years her senior, took a strong lead in the figures ahead of her teammate Svea Norén, Great Britain's Phyllis Johnson, Norway's Margot Moe and Theresa Weld Blanchard. In last place was a second Norwegian woman, Ingrid Gulbrandsen, at age twenty the youngest of the figure skaters in Antwerp.

Magda Julin and Svea Norén

Magda Julin had to change her free skate music at the eleventh hour. She initially planned to skate to Strauss' "Blue Danube" but she was advised against skating to the iconic Viennese waltz due to the widespread anti-German/Austrian sentiments at the time. Weld Blanchard won the free skate, with Julin only fourth, but caused some controversy by performing the Salchow and loop jumps in her program. She was told some judges marked her down as a result as jumps were considered "unsuitable for a lady" because her skirt flew up to her knees. Gunnar Bang described it as "a rather bold program." Julin took the gold medal with no first place marks. The British judge voted for Johnson, the Swedish judge for Norén and the Norwegian judge had Moe and Gulbrandsen - who finished fifth and sixth - first and second. The Belgian judge voted for Weld Blanchard and the French judge had Norén and Weld Blanchard in a tie. Julin's win (by only point five of a placing) came on the basis of three second place ordinals. Skating historian Benjamin Wright noted, "The ISU distanced itself from any participation in the figure skating events of the Games, other than to provide the schedule and rules pursuant to which the events were to be held... The day after the ladies event, a re-tabulation of the marks showed that Theresa Weld had in fact earned more points than Svea Norén of Sweden, and deserved the silver medal. The judges had approximated her points and awarded ordinals and the medals accordingly. A protest was never made and the results stood as originally announced. It was a commentary on the fact that the ISU did not participate in the conducting of the events." However controversial the results of the women's event in Antwerp, the most remarkable fact was that Magda Julin was pregnant at the time of her win.

Women's scoring from Antwerp. Courtesy "Official Rules For Ice Hockey, Speed Skating, Figure Skating And Curling", Spalding's Athletic Library.

The pairs competition, held on April 26, 1920, was won by Ludowika and Walter Jakobsson by a landslide. Sakari Ilmanen wrote of their performance, "They did not have many moments on the ice when you realized that they were not in a great mood for ice skating. Not a trace of the competition fever... jumps and turns succeeded perfectly, the skating was punctual and full presentation of the music. It was ice skating which received enthusiasm [from] the audience. Almost incessantly throughout the skating time, they showed tumultuous applause." Norwegians Alexia and Yngvar Bryn were decisively second and Phyllis (Squire) Johnson and Basil Williams defeated Weld Blanchard and Niles for the bronze by only three point five ordinal placings. Johnson, who had won the silver in 1908 with her husband James, became the first figure skater in history to win more than one Olympic medal.

The three day men's competition commenced on April 26, 1920 and ended on April 28, 1920 with the free skating event. The event was spread over three days because initially there were to have been thirteen entries before skaters from France and Italy withdrew. The intense rivalry between Swedes Ulrich Salchow and Gillis Grafström lended an added air of solemnity to the school figures. Gunnar Bang recalled that "Salchow, who usually tended to have a good humour and [converse with] the judges, was silent.... Grafström's mood was very solemn and his nerves anything but stable." After the figures were skated, Grafström had amassed a healthy lead over his more experienced teammate. According to the French newspaper "La Vie au grand air", Grafström was "really magnificient with great variation" in his free skating performance but Norway's Andreas Krogh made "great effect with his jumps of unparalleled audacity". Ultimately, Grafström won the event unanimously and Krogh settled for silver. Forty four year old Martin Stixrud of Norway took the bronze, becoming the second oldest male figure skater in history to win an Olympic medal. Salchow struggled so much in his free skate that judges from Norway and Finland had him as low as fifth overall. Legend goes that he fell on his own Salchow jump.

On April 29, 1920, Magda Julin, the Jakobssons and Gillis Grafström repeated their winning free skating programs at the Palais de Glace d'Anvers in something of a gala  and prizes were given out by Count Henri de Baillet-Latour.. The four skaters comprised the only the Scandinavian sweep of gold medals in figure skating at the Olympic Games. A reception was held upstairs in the rink where speeches were made by representatives of each country. Theresa Weld Blanchard recalled, "After refreshments were served people discussed together the various styles of skating as shown by the different competitors. All were tremendously interested in the United States skaters and were most kind to them." There were dinners for skating officials at the Grand Hôtel and Swedish skaters attended a free banquet at the Zoological Gardens thrown by Harald Petri, the Consul General of Sweden.

There were no television cameras and commentators. No one live tweeted the competition. An expert technical panel didn't dissect the skater's elements and no one landed a quadruple jump. Times were different, but the achievements of these pioneering athletes who competed at the Olympics in April of 1920 deserve not only attention... but absolute respect.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

Sweet Doll Of Haddon Hall: The Dorothy Greenhough Smith Story

The daughter of James Edward Preston Muddock and Eleanor Rudd, Dorothy Vernon Muddock was born in Yorkshire, England on September 27, 1882. Her father was a widely acclaimed journalist and author of mystery and horror fiction novels, who was every bit as popular and prolific as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Under the pen name 'Dick Donovan', he penned over two hundred detective stories. 

He named Dorothy after the main character in Eliza Meteyard's 1860 book "The Love Steps Of Dorothy Vernon" and wrote a Dorothy Vernon book of his own in 1903, "Sweet Doll Of Haddon Hall", casting his daughter Dorothy as Dorothy Vernon. In a 1924 silent film, Dorothy Vernon was portrayed by no less a star than Mary Pickford herself.

Left: Mary Pickford as Dorothy Vernon. Right: James Edward Preston Muddock.

When the real Dorothy was only seventeen, she married forty five year old publisher Herbert Greenhough Smith, who was editor of the magazine which first published the writing of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. One can only imagine she broke that news to her father: "Hi, Dad! Here's my forty five year old husband who works for The Strand Magazine. Strand Magazine? Oh, you know, the one that's publishing the writing of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle... your biggest competition?" Interestingly, Dorothy's father's 1907 autobiography makes no mention of Dorothy or Herbert whatsoever.

When she wasn't presumably having awkward family dinners, Dorothy Greenhough Smith was making a name for herself as a pioneer in women's figure skating. She began skating at the age of twenty at the Prince's Skating Club in London. Under the tutelage of Bernard and Alex Adams, she made her international debut at the ISU Championships for Ladies in Davos in 1906, which was later recognized as the first World Championships for women. She had only skated for four years at that point in time. Madge Syers won and Dorothy finished dead last, but she took defeat in stride and pressed on to have a short but hugely successful career.

Dorothy won the British Championships in 1908 and 1911, both times defeating a man in the process. At the 1908 Summer Olympic Games in her home country, she won the bronze medal behind Syers and Germany's Elsa Rendschmidt. Commentary from "The Fourth Olympiad, the Official Report Of The Olympic Games 1908" by Theodore Andrea Cook noted that in her free skating performance at Prince's Ice Club at those Games, she skated "pretty combinations of rockers and counters, introducing graceful dance steps and what is known as the Axel Paulsen jump."

Yes, Dorothy Greenhough Smith was landing single Axels at a time when many women were barely eeking out waltz jumps and Salchows, if they were jumping at all. Captain T.D. Richardson recalled, "She was a superb school skater and was the first lady in the world successfully to jump the Axel Paulsen - she could jump it with complete nonchalance - complete with ankle length skirt, hat and very high skates indeed. She was... altogether a remarkable person."

Equally remarkable was her trip to the 1912 World Figure Skating Championships, where in winning the silver medal she defeated Olympic Gold Medallist Ludovika Jakobsson and World Champion Phyllis Johnson. She retired from competitive skating the same year.

Dorothy Greenhough Smith presenting the Championship Cup to Marion Lay at the 1931 British Championships

Turning in her skates for tennis shoes, Dorothy made a bid for Wimbledon in 1914 but lost to Mrs. W.H. Holloway in the first round. She also was an accomplished swimmer. Her husband and father died within a year of each other in the mid fifties and she spent much of the rest of her days in Royal Tunbridge Wells, East Sussex, passing away of a heart attack on May 9, 1965 at the age of eighty two. Little is known of her later life, but anyone who was the subject of a famous novel, was married to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's editor, won an Olympic medal as a figure skater and competed at Wimbledon certainly would have had a lot of fond memories to look back on.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

A Great From Gävle: The Richard Johansson Story

Photo courtesy Länsmuseet Gävleborg

The son of Johan and Regina Alberta Johansson, Carl Richard 'Ricken' Johansson was born June 18, 1882 in the historic city of Gävle in Gästrikland, Sweden. He had two brothers - Johan Axel and Filip - and three sisters, Lovisa, Frida and Hilma. Though skating was a pursuit he'd excelled at in his youth, it wasn't he joined the sports club IFK Gefle (IFK Gävle) as a teenager that he began pursuing skating competitively.

Richard Johansson and S. Andersson competing at the 1904 Swedish Championships

In the first decade of the twentieth century, Richard competed in both singles and pairs skating at the Swedish Championships, winning the men's title four times in Ulrich Salchow's absence. He also competed in the Nordic Games and several smaller international skating events in Scandinavia. His successes in these competitions were particularly notable because at  the time, the Stockholms Allmänna Skridskoklubb was considered 'the hub' of figure skating in Sweden and he was representing Gävle.

Gertrud Ström and Richard Johansson. Photo courtesy Archive Gävleborg

After placing fourth at the 1905 World Championships in Stockholm behind Salchow, Max Bohatsch and Per Thorén, Richard arrived at Prince's Skating Club in Knightsbridge to compete at the 1908 Summer Olympic Games. Relatively inexperienced internationally outside of Scandinavia compared to some of his rivals, the twenty five year old placed a distant third in the school figures but actually defeated the winner, Salchow, in the free skate by a healthy margin and moved up to claim the silver medal.

Richard Johansson. Bottom photo courtesy Archive Gävleborg.

When the World Championships came to Stockholm in 1909, Richard entered both the singles and pairs competition. With partner Gertrud Ström, he finished third in the pairs event. In the singles, he placed a disappointing fourth. However, one judge had him first in the free skate and two others tied him with Salchow. His outing at the 1911 World Championships would be similar - fifth place overall but a first place ordinal from one judge over Salchow. The Parisian magazine "Les Sports d'Hiver" reported that in Berlin, "Johansson opened the event and surprised everyone, judges and audience, with his free skating, rich of previously unseen drawings, which were extremely difficult. His program, which flowed well together, includes compulsory figures, standing pirouettes with jumps, sit spin."

Richard Johansson, Einar de Flon and Birger Forsberg. Photo courtesy Länsmuseet Gävleborg.

After again placing fifth at the 1913 European Championships in Oslo with one first place ordinal in the free skate, Richard competed at his last World Championships in 1914, placing ninth overall. He was afterwards 'reduced' to giving exhibitions in Gävle with "a girl, seven years old - and a little dog figure skating on skates."

Gillis Grafström, Harald Rooth, Richard Johansson and Gösta Sandahl at the 1914 World Championships

Ultimately, Richard had the unfortunate luck and timing of competing against Ulrich Salchow - a grand master of the school figures - during an era when his excellence in free skating mattered little, as the scoring was heavily weighted to reward skaters who excelled in school figures.

Photos courtesy Länsmuseet Gävleborg

Surviving both World Wars, Richard left competitive figure skating behind him, married and turned to a life in the business world. His granddaughter, Maja Wessling, represented Sweden at two World Championships in ice hockey. He passed away on July 24, 1952 at the age of seventy, his legacy as the first Olympic Silver Medallist in men's figure skating largely forgotten outside of his home country.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.