1928 Winter Olympic Games

The 1928 Winter Games, hosted by St. Moritz, Switzerland, were the first to be held in a different nation than the Summer Games of the same year. A new event was contested: the skeleton, which is like luge except that the athletes descend headfirst. Speed skater A. Clas Thunberg added two more gold medals to the three he had won in 1924. Johan Grøttumbråten of Norway won the 18km cross-country event and the Nordic combined. Another Norwegian, Sonja Henie, caused a sensation by winning the women’s figure skating at the age of fifteen. Her record as the youngest winner of an individual event stood for 74 years. In men’s figure skating, Gillis Grafström of Sweden won his third straight gold medal. Canada again dominated the ice hockey tournament, winning their three matches 11-0, 14-0 and 13-0.