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Paavo Nurmi: Two golds within hours.
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Johnny Weissmuller
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Harold Abrahams
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Eric Liddell
In this Year...
- The Winter Olympics take place for the first time - staged in Chamonix, France, with Norway topping the medal table.
- Ramsay MacDonald becomes the first Labour Prime Minister, leading a minority government.
- Huddersfield Town win the first of three successive First Division titles.
- The Sunday Express becomes the first newspaper to publish a crossword.
- A team from the United States Army Air Service completes the first aerial circumnavigation of the globe in 175 days.
- The Meteorological Office issues its first broadcast Shipping Forecast, at this time called Weather Shipping.
- England bowl South Africa out for just 30 in the first innings of the first Test of the series they go on to win easily 3-0.
Paris 1924
The Olympic motto "Citius, Altius, Fortius" (Faster, Higher, Stronger) was introduced, as was the closing ceremony ritual of raising the flag of the International Olympic Committee, the flag of the host nation and the flag of the next host nation.
The number of participating countries jumped from 29 to 44 and, as women's fencing made its debut, Denmark's Ellen Osiier earned gold without losing a single bout.
British runner Harold Abrahams won the 100m and team-mate Eric Liddell the 400m in what would become the basis for the 1981 film 'Chariots Of Fire'.
American swimmer Johnny Weissmuller, who was to become the star of the Tarzan movies, won two gold medals on one day and added a bronze in water polo later that same day.
Fellow USA swimmer Gertrude Ederle took bronze in the 100m freestyle but was to become famous two years later for being the first woman to swim across the English Channel.
Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi won five gold medals to add to the three he had won in 1920, amazingly picking up the 1,500m and 5,000m titles despite just having a break of about an hour between the two events.
Nurmi's countryman Ville Ritola also won four gold medals and two silver, while Frenchman Roger Ducret won five medals, including three gold, in fencing.Olympic Stars:
Paavo Nurmi was the leader of the Flying Finns brigade that dominated distance running, and he was the most successful athlete in Paris with five gold medals to his name - including a remarkable 1500m/5000m double despite having just an hour's break between events.
Nurmi followed up with individual success in the cross country, while Finland unsurprisingly took the team competition in both that event and the 3000m as Nurmi became one of the star Olympians of all time.
Three swimming gold medals for Johnny Weissmuller in Paris, who famously went on to become the star of Tarzan movies - and the most recognisable actor to have ever played that role.
Weissmuller took the 100m and 400m freestyle, 4x200m relay and added a bronze medal in water polo just for good measure before going on to appear in 12 Tarzan films as his career out of the pool was every bit as successful as that in it.
Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams' exploits in Paris, and the build-up, would be made into the Oscar-winning motion picture 'Chariots Of Fire', after both Brits bagged gold in the French capital.
Abrahams captured 100m gold after Liddell withdrew from the event due to his staunch religious beliefs as it was being staged on a Sunday, but he managed to upset the odds to win the 400m, which was his least-fancied event, in a new world record time.
