1924 - Paris, France

1924 - Paris, France

As an honor to the retiring IOC founder and president Pierre de Coubertin (and at his request) the 1924 Olympic Games were held in Paris.

After much debate, winter sports were added to the Olympic Games this year. The winter events were held in January and February, creating a tradition that the winter events would be held a few months before the summer events (this tradition ended in 1992). Because of problems determining amateur status, tennis was taken off the list of events after the 1924 Olympics and were not readded until 1988.

Paavo Nurmi, called a "superman," was back running and won gold in the 1,500-meter (set an Olympic record), 5,000-meter (set an Olympic record), and the 10,000-meter cross-country run. Nurmi was also a member of the winning Finnish teams on the 3,000-meter relay and the 10,000-meter relay.

It was this Olympics that became fictionalized in the Academy Award winning film Chariots of Fire in 1981.

In all, over 3,000 athletes participated in the events, representing 44 countries.