The first decisive result occurred exactly 99 years ago at the Stade Olympique de Chamonix - which also hosted the cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, nordic combined, speed skating and military patrol event.

There an all-Scottish line-up of father and son Willie and Laurence Jackson, Robin Welsh and Tom Murray earned a 46-4 win over France which secured them victory in the curling event at what was then billed as an "International Winter Sports Week."

Such was the success of the event organised by the French Olympic Committee that it was retroactively designated as the "first Olympic Winter Games" by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and instituted as a quadrennial event which took place in the same year as the Summer Games until 1992 and started a new quadrennial cycle in 1994.

For whatever reason, however, the success of the curling event in Chamonix was not deemed to have been sufficient to merit continued presence in the Olympic programme and it was dropped from the 1928 edition in St Moritz.

It returned to the programme as a demonstration sport in 1932, and again in 1988 and 1992 before being added to the official roster at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.

Four years later in Salt Lake City another all-Scottish team skipped by Rhona Martin famously won Britain’s first Olympic curling title - except that it wasn’t the first.

I was among the British media in Turin before the Opening Ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics who learned with great satisfaction of an early lead story - Britain wins first Olympic gold before the Games begin!

And it was all thanks to The Herald newspaper in Glasgow.

The paper had filed a claim on behalf of the families of the 1924 team to upgrade the status of their win to an Olympic title.

Up until that point it had been assumed - although never confirmed by the IOC - that the Scots, all of whom had been selected by the Royal Caledonian Curling Club (RCCC) in Perth, had been playing in a demonstration event.

Britain, one of three teams involved, had arrived with four reserves and won its first round-robin match 38-7 against Sweden before beating France.

The confirmation shortly before the Games began followed a story in The Herald written on January 23 by its estimable writer Doug Gillon: "The curling competition won in Chamonix, at the very first Winter Olympic Games in 1924, is believed by all Olympic historians, and numerous authorities including the British Olympic Association and Royal Caledonian Curling Club, to have been a demonstration event…

"When curling finally appeared on the 1998 Winter Olympic programme, the IOC stated: "In 1998 the Winter Olympic Games returned to Japan after 26 years. Snowboarding and curling debuted as official disciplines . . ."

"The IOC headquarters in Lausanne now tells us, however, that this is incorrect.

"We consider curling as an official sport in 1924," said a spokesman for the IOC information management department. 

"It was in demonstration in 1928, but for the International Week of Winter Sports all the winners of the events are considered as Olympic champions."

Colin Grahamslaw, chief executive of the RCCC, commented: "We are now looking to clarify this with the British Olympic Association, to ensure that these curlers get the recognition they deserve."

When the news was confirmed, World Curling Federation President Roy Sinclair voiced his delight.

"We have always been aware that our sport had a great history and we knew there had been curling in 1924," he said.

The turn of events also took away on mark of distinction from the men’s and women’s gold medallists at the Nagano 1998 Winter Olympics, respectively Switzerland and Canada, who were no longer the first Olympic curling champions.

Before the revelation of the 1924 victory status, Team GB Chef de Mission Simon Clegg had said he was looking for his team to win one medal of any colour in Turin.

That goal was achieved before the real action started.

"We are delighted that the curling result of 1924 has been recognised by the IOC," he said.

Herald research showed that the RCCC’s annual report of 1924 described how the Scots had marched in La Grande Patinoire, the Chamonix outdoor rink, with union flags on their left arms and brooms carried over their right shoulders, rifle style, to chants of "Balais! Balais!" (brooms! brooms!).

Robin Welsh's son, also Robin, became secretary of the RCCC and of the International Curling Federation, the latter formed in 1966 with the aim of having the sport re-admitted to the Olympic Movement.

That went well. But the Scottish curlers’ performance at the very first Winter Olympics went better than anyone expected.

Statistical records have been duly altered, including the category of Britain’s oldest Winter Olympic gold medallist. 

That was previously thought to have been Carl Earhardt, who was 39 years and one day old when he played in the British ice hockey team that won gold in the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Welsh was 55 when he was in the winning rink.

Robin Welsh junior died, aged 86, just before confirmation arrived that the "demonstration" gold his father had brought back from Chamonix was in fact a bona fide Olympic gold.

His son, Peter, who now has the medal, told Gillon that he and his father, like everyone else, had believed it to have been a demonstration event.

"I'll now look for the certificate which went with it," he said.

He said of his father: "I had been looking forward to telling him about the Olympic gold medal, but never had the chance."