Alpinism - a gold medal for mountaineering
An Olympic Alpinism Prize was first awarded in 1924. There was no actual competition, medals were awarded for the most notable alpinism feat accomplished during the previous four years. The medal in 1924 was awarded during the closing ceremony of the first Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix. Subsequent prizes in 1932 and 1936 were awarded at the Summer Olympics.
Winners of Alpinism
- 1924: awarded to the participants of the 1922 Mount Everest expedition led by General Bruce for outstanding feats on the unsuccessful attempt. The prize included posthumous medals for seven Sherpas who died in an avalanche.
- 1932: German brothers Franz and Tony Schmidt received the Olympic Alpine Prize for their "first ascent of the North Face of the Matterhorn".
- 1936: the prize was awarded to Gunter and Hettie Dyhrenfurth from Switzerland for their Himalayan exploration.
mountaineersIn September 1946, the IOC agreed to drop the Alpinism Prize. However, Reinhold Messner and Jerzy Kukuczka were awarded silver medals at the 1988 Calgary Winter Games for successfully summiting each of the 14 8,000-meter peaks.
Related Pages
- More about Discontinued Olympic Events
- Olympic Climbing — a new Winter Olympics sport
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