The Olympic Village St. Moritz
8 February 2023
The first Winter Olympics in St Moritz (canton of Graubünden) began on 11 February 1928. Four hundred sixty-four athletes (including twenty-seven women) from 25 countries participated in six sports and 14 disciplines until 19 February, comprising speed skating, figure skating, ice hockey, bobsleigh and skeleton, skiing, ski jumping, cross-country skiing, and Nordic combination.
Poster and the path to the Olympic stadium
The choice of St Moritz at 1,856 metres was no accident. The village had been a winter sports resort for decades, and numerous facilities were already in place. Therefore, the organisation’s investments were ‘only’ CHF 700,000, including CHF 250,000 for a new ski jump hill.
The Olympic stadium was very modest. There was no village for athletes. They stayed, mostly at their own expense, in hotels. The atmosphere in and outside the games was Olympic in the true sense of the word. The athletes were amateurs. About 40,000 spectators and 330 press representatives attended the event. Radio was also present.
Opening ceremony 1928
Also, or even in 1928, the weather did not always cooperate: it was 25 degrees on 14 February and 10 degrees with rain the day after. Consequently, the 10,000-metre skating event did not take place.
Speed skating, 5,000 meters
The second Winter Olympic Games in St. Moritz took place from January 30 to February 8, 1948. The Olympic stadium was again used; however, a village for athletes was still not in place, and the Olympic idea that participation is more important than winning remained the norm.
Poster 1948 and the opening ceremony
In 1948, the weather was, again, unstable, around freezing point and thawing some days. Six hundred sixty-nine athletes, including seventy-seven women, from 28 countries, participated. Germany, Japan and the Soviet Union were not represented.
Fifty-nine thousand spectators and 570 press representatives followed the fifth Winter Olympics. The number of sports was still six, but with more disciplines in skiing. Television was introduced, featuring the BBC and three US channels.
As well as being an Olympic village, St Moritz was also a hub of sports pioneers in bobsleigh and skeleton, the first curling club outside the UK, professional ski instructors, polo on ice ( the Snow-Polo World Cup), the ‘White Turf’ horse races (skiers pulled by horses on Lake St Moritz) and several new ski events.
St. Moritz shares the characteristics of most fashionable Swiss towns. The grandeur of the hotels and other tourist facilities complements the village-like and convivial atmosphere, as well as various high-class cultural events and organisations, and the magnificent natural surroundings.
(Source and further information: www.st.moritz.com)
