Winter Olympics history: Here's what the first ever winter Games looked like

The 2018 Winter Olympics is currently under way and over 3,000 athletes from around the world have travelled to South Korea with high ambitions of taking home medals for their countries.

The 23rd edition of the Games begun on Friday in PyeongChang but as we prepare to celebrate our athlete’s achievements, it's time to admire some incredible photos of those who paved the way almost 100 years ago.

The black and white images from the 1924 Winter Olympics held at the foot of Mont Blanc in Chamonix, France, is a far cry from the event being held in PyeongChang

The first Winter Games only had five sports (broken into disciplines): bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, Nordic skiing (consisting of the disciplines military patrol, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined and ski jumping), and skating (consisting of the disciplines figure skating and speed skating).

The first gold medal ever awarded in the Olympic Winter games was won by Charles Jewtraw of the United States in the 500-meter speed skate.

While 11-year-old Norweigan Sonja Henie skated in the ladies' figure skating competition. Despite finishing last, she became popular with fans and later went on to win gold in the next three Winter Games.

For the first time in the history of modern Olympics, France, the host country, failed to win any gold medals, finishing with three bronze medals, while Great Britain took home a total of four medals; one gold, one silver and two bronze.

Athletes from 16 different nations competed in the first Winter Olympic Games, excluding Germany, who were banned from competing and instead hosted a series of games called Deutsche Kampfspiele.