Medals for feats of alpinism were initially floated as part of the first Olympic Congress in 1894, where it was suggested by the committee tasked with drawing up a list of sports.[1] A prize for alpinism (as well as game hunting) was considered for the 1912 Olympic Games, but the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided against it for several reasons, including practicability, risk to human life and the lack of an exceptional feat of alpinism between 1908 and 1911.[1]
After no medals were given out in 1928, the 1932 prize was awarded to German brothers Franz and Toni Schmid for being the first people to ascend the northern wall of the Matterhorn on August 1, 1931.[1][7] Toni died on May 16, 1932 while attempting to climb the Wiesbachhorn, but Franz and his father accepted medals on behalf of both brothers in a ceremony on September 5, 1932.[1]
In 1936, medals were given to Swiss-German climber Günter Dyhrenfurth and his wife Hettie for "a series of remarkable ascents and scientific expeditions in the Himalayas".[1] According to Olympic rules, only single performances could be considered, so the award was de facto for the pair's 1934 expedition, in which Hettie broke the women's altitude record by climbing 7313 meters.[1] Despite the 1936 Summer Olympics being held in Berlin, Hettie being Jewish, and the pair having left Germany due to Adolf Hitler's rise to power, the German members of the IOC did not file any objections.[1] Günter, who was also one-quarter Jewish,[7] traveled alone to Berlin to accept the award during the 1936 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.[1] The Dyhrenfurths were nonetheless left out of the Official Report of the Games, which caused Günter to send a letter of protest to the publisher.[1]
The IOC agreed to end the prize for alpinism in 1946, following a request from the Swiss.[1][8] In 1988, the Olympic Order was presented to Reinhold Messner and Jerzy Kukuczka, the first two people to climb all fourteen eight-thousanders.[9] Messner declined the award, citing mountaineering as a creative activity and not a competition, while Kukuczka accepted it, though simultaneously distinguished it from a real Olympic medal.[9]
Medal table
The award from 1924 is awarded to a mixed team by the IOC (since the expedition was British-led, but some recipients were Indian or Nepalese).[5][10] Only the medal from 1924 is assigned to the Winter Olympics by the IOC in its database, namely for the 1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix for the Mixed team,[10] while the medals from 1932 and 1936 are assigned to the Summer Olympics for the respective NOCs.[11][12]
