Charles Jewtraw won the first Winter Olympic gold medal, taking the men's 500-metre speed-skating title at Chamonix 1924.
Jewtraw represented the United States and won the race in 44.0 seconds. His victory came on 26 January 1924, the opening day of the first Winter Olympics, then officially called the International Winter Sports Week.
The result is sometimes confused with the first gold medal of the modern Olympic Games overall, which was won by American triple jumper James Connolly in 1896. Jewtraw's achievement specifically concerns the Winter Olympics.
Jewtraw later worked as a sporting-goods salesman and did not win another Olympic medal. His name remains attached to the opening chapter of Winter Olympic history because he was the first champion crowned at the Games.