1928 St. Moritz, Switzerland

The games that nearly washed away

Last Updated: Friday, December 18, 2009 | 3:25 PM ET

CBC Sports

Jacob Tullin Thams of Norway airborne during a jump in the Ski Jumping event at the 1928 Winter Olympic Games in St. Moritz, Switzerland. (IOC Olympic Museum/Allsport/Getty Images)

The 1928 St. Moritz Games marked the ascension of figure skating star Sonja Henie and included German athletes for the first time since the First World War. It was also the first time the Winter Games were hosted by a nation other than the one who hosted the Summer Games the same year.

Weather again played a role in the Games, causing some events being cancelled – slushed out by the elements.

St. Moritz was considered an ideal location. It had a well-established ski resort, the best-known bobsleigh course in the world, a 15,000-square metre skating stadium, 20 artificial skating rinks, and a new ski jump. It also offered many first-class hotels for spectators and athletes. Located high in the Alps, St. Moritz traditionally had a lot of snow and cold weather – the perfect setting for the Winter Games.

Warm weather had plagued the 1924 Chamonix Games, so this time organizers scheduled competition to begin in St. Moritz on Feb. 11, when conditions were expected to be at their best. Unfortunately, that week turned out to be the warmest in living memory. Three days into the Games a southerly breeze raised temperatures to a record 25 degrees, which is sunburn weather.

The 10,000-metre speed skating event was in full swing when the ice began melting.

With skaters literally splashing around on the ice, judges postponed the race until the following day. Temperatures hovered in the low teens for the rest of the week and the competition had to be cancelled.

The weather hurt cross-country skiing events as well. When snow turned to slush, about a third of the competitors in the 50km race quit outright.

The bobsleigh races narrowly avoided the same fate. Organizers reduced the number of starts from four to two, and a t least half the races went ahead.

The new skeleton event – like the luge, but with competitors descending head first -- was unaffected by the weather. Races went ahead as scheduled, and their speed, along with the element of danger, made them an immediate hit with the spectators.

Norwegian figure skater Sonja Henie drew as many headlines as the weather, dazzling spectators and judges alike. Competing a few weeks before her 16th birthday, Henie won the first of her three Olympic gold medals.

To no one's surprise, Canada's hockey team brought home another gold medal.

Despite the warm weather, the Games were deemed a success.

A notable athlete was Sweden’s Gillis Grafström

Known as a great innovator in figure skating, he introduced the spiral, the change sit spin and the flying sit spin. He also earned more Olympic medals than any figure skater in history, claiming gold in 1920, 1924 and 1928, and silver in 1932, when he was 38.