Greece at the 1896 Summer Olympics | |
---|---|
IOC code | GRE |
NOC | Hellenic Olympic Committee |
Website | www |
in Athens, Greece April 6, 1896 – April 15, 1896 | |
Competitors | 169 in 9 sports and 39 events |
Medals Ranked 2nd |
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Summer Olympics appearances (overview) | |
Other related appearances | |
1906 Intercalated Games |
Greece was the host nation of the 1896 Summer Olympics held in Athens. The number of Greek contestants is commonly cited as 169, but as many as 176 Greeks [1] contested events in all nine sports. The Greeks were by far the most successful nation in terms of total medals with 47, 27 more than the United States of America. Nevertheless, their number of first-place finishes (10) was one fewer than the Americans' 11. The Greeks had 172 entries in 39 events. Only 4 events had no Greek entrants—the 400 metres and the high jump in athletics and the vault and the team horizontal bar in gymnastics.
The following competitors won medals at the games. In the discipline sections below, the medalists' names are bolded.
Medals by sport | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Sport | Total | |||
Shooting | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
Gymnastics | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
Fencing | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
Athletics | 1 | 3 | 6 | 10 |
Swimming | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
Cycling | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
Tennis | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
Wrestling | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Weightlifting | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Total | 10 | 18 | 19 | 47 |
The following competitors won multiple medals at the 1896 Olympic Games.
Name | Medal | Sport | Event |
---|---|---|---|
Ioannis Frangoudis | Gold Silver Bronze | Shooting | Men's 25 metre rapid fire pistol Men's 300 metre free rifle Men's 30 metre pistol |
Nikolaos Andriakopoulos | Gold Silver | Gymnastics | Men's rope climbing Men's team parallel bars |
Georgios Orphanidis | Gold Silver | Shooting | Men's 300 metre free rifle Men's 25 metre rapid fire pistol |
Ioannis Mitropoulos | Gold Bronze | Gymnastics | Men's rings Men's team parallel bars |
Dimitrios Kasdaglis | Silver Silver | Tennis | Men's singles Men's doubles |
Stamatios Nikolopoulos | Silver Silver | Cycling | Men's sprint Men's track time trial |
Thomas Xenakis | Silver Silver | Gymnastics | Men's team parallel bars Men's rope climbing |
Petros Persakis | Silver Bronze | Gymnastics | Men's team parallel bars Men's rings |
Sotirios Versis | Bronze Bronze | Athletics Weightlifting | Men's discus throw Men's two hand lift |
The following is the list of number of competitors in the Games.
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The Greeks entered every event on the athletics program save the 400 metres and the high jump. They took 1 gold, 3 silver, and 6 bronze medals in the sport. It was initially thought that the Greek team had swept the top three places of the marathon event, until it was discovered that Spiridon Belokas had covered part of the distance by cart and was disqualified.
Track & road events
Athlete | Event | Heat | Final | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Time | Rank | Time | Rank | ||
Alexandros Chalkokondylis | 100 m | 12.8 | 2 Q | 12.6 | 5 |
Georgios Gennimatas | Unknown | 4-5 | Did not advance | ||
Konstantinos Mouratis | DNS | Did not advence | |||
Konstantinos Mouratis | 400 m | DNS | Did not advence | ||
Angelos Fetsis | 800 m | Unknown | 4 | Did not advance | |
Dimitrios Golemis | 2:16.8 | 2 Q | 2:28.0 | ||
Dimitrios Tombrof | Unknown | 5 | Did not advance | ||
Angelos Fetsis | 1500 m | — | Unknown | 5 | |
Dimitrios Golemis | — | Unknown | 6 | ||
Konstantinos Karakatsanis | — | Unknown | 7-8 | ||
Dimitrios Tombrof | — | Unknown | 7-8 | ||
Anastasios Andreou | 110 m hurdles | Unknown | 4 | Did not advance | |
Konstantinos Mouratis | DNS | Did not advence | |||
Athanasios Skaltsogiannis | Unknown | 3-4 | Did not advance | ||
Spyridon Belokas | Marathon | — | DSQ | ||
Dimitrios Deligiannis | — | DNF | |||
Evangelos Gerakeris | — | Unknown | 7 | ||
Georgios Grigoriou | — | DNF | |||
Ilias Kafetzis | — | DNF | |||
Sokratis Lagoudakis | — | Unknown | 9 | ||
Ioannis Lavrentis | — | DNF | |||
Spyridon Louis | — | 2:58:50 OR | |||
Stamatios Masouris | — | Unknown | 8 | ||
Eleftherios Papasymeon | — | Unknown | 5 | ||
Charilaos Vasilakos | — | 3:06:03 | |||
Ioannis Vrettos | — | Unknown | 4 |
Field events
Athlete | Event | Final | |
---|---|---|---|
Distance | Position | ||
Evangelos Damaskos | Men's pole vault | 2.60 | |
Ioannis Theodoropoulos | 2.60 | ||
Vasilios Xydas | 2.40 | 5 | |
Alexandros Chalkokondylis | Men's long jump | 5.74 | 4 |
Athanasios Skaltsogiannis | Unknown | 5-9 | |
Konstantinos Mouratis | DNS | ||
Ioannis Persakis | Men's triple jump | 12.52 | |
Christos Zoumis | Unknown | 6-7 | |
Miltiadis Gouskos | Men's shot put | 11.20 | |
Georgios Papasideris | 10.36 | ||
Georgios Papasideris | Men's discus throw | Unknown | 5-9 |
Panagiotis Paraskevopoulos | 28.95 | ||
Sotirios Versis | 27.28 |
Greece had entries in all six cycling events, winning one and taking second place in three more.
Athlete | Event | Time / Distance | Rank |
---|---|---|---|
Stamatios Nikolopoulos | Men's time trial | 25.4 | |
Stamatios Nikolopoulos | Men's sprint | 5:00.2 | |
Georgios Koletis | 10 km | DNF | |
Aristidis Konstantinidis | Unknown | ||
Georgios Aspiotis | 100 km | DNS | |
Georgios Koletis | Unknown | ||
Aristidis Konstantinidis | DNF | ||
Nikos Loverdos | 12 hour race | DNF | |
Konstantinos Konstantinou | DNF | ||
Georgios Paraskevopoulos | DNF | ||
A. Tryfiatis-Tripiaris | DNF |
Athlete | Event | Time | Rank |
---|---|---|---|
Georgios Aspiotis | Men's road race | Unknown | 4-7 |
Miltiades Iatrou | Unknown | 4-7 | |
Aristidis Konstantinidis | 3:22:31 | ||
Konstantinos Konstantinou | Unknown | 4-7 | |
Georgios Paraskevopoulos | Unknown | 4-7 |
Greek fencers won the top two places in the sabre competition, third place in the amateur foil competition, and in a major upset, Pyrgos defeated Joanni Perronet in the sole match of the masters foil event.
Athlete | Event | Round 1 | Final | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
MW | ML | Rank | Opposition Score | Rank | ||
Georgios Valakakis | Men's foil | 0 | 3 | 4 | Did not advance | 7 |
Konstantinos Miliotis-Komninos | 1 | 2 | 3 | Did not advance | 6 | |
Periklis Pierrakos-Mavromichalis | 2 | 1 | 2 | Did not advance | ||
Ioannis Poulos | 0 | 3 | 4 | Did not advance | 8 | |
Athanasios Vouros | 2 | 1 | 2 | Did not advance | ||
Leonidas Pyrgos | Men's masters foil | — | Perronet (FRA) W 3–1 | |||
Ioannis Georgiadis | Men's sabre | 4 | 0 | 1 | — | |
Georgios Iatridis | 0 | 4 | 5 | — | 5 | |
Tilemachos Karakalos | 3 | 1 | 2 | — |
The names of the members of the two teams that competed in the team events are, for the most part, unknown. The vault and the team horizontal bar were two of the four events (the other two in the athletics program) that had no Greek entrants. The Greeks took two of each color medal, with two medals in each of the rope climbing (gold and silver), rings (gold and bronze), and team parallel bars (silver and bronze) competitions.
Athlete | Event | Result | Rank |
---|---|---|---|
Nikolaos Andriakopoulos Spyridon Athanasopoulos Petros Persakis Thomas Xenakis 29 others, names unknown | Men's team parallel bars | Unknown | |
Ioannis Chrysafis Ioannis Mitropoulos Dimitrios Loundras Filippos Karvelas 15 others, names unknown | Unknown |
Athlete | Event | Result | Rank |
---|---|---|---|
Aristovoulos Petmezas | Men's pommel horse | Unknown | 3-15 |
Ioannis Mitropoulos | Men's rings | Unknown | |
Petros Persakis | Unknown | ||
Antonios Papaioannou | Men's horizontal bar | Unknown | 3-15 |
Leonidas Tsiklitiras | Unknown | 3-15 | |
Filippos Karvelas | Men's parallel bars | Unknown | 3-18 |
Ioannis Mitropoulos | Unknown | 3-18 | |
Antonios Papaioannou | Unknown | 3-18 | |
Nikolaos Andriakopoulos | Men's rope climbing | 14.0 | |
Thomas Xenakis | 14.0 |
Greek shooters dominated the two rifle events and the rapid fire pistol competition, but were largely unable to compete with the Paine brothers of the United States in the pistol events that the two brothers entered.
Some of the Greek swimmers' names were not recorded. Greece's only swimming gold medal came in an event in which only Greek swimmers were allowed to compete, as did a silver and a bronze. In the three open events, the Greeks took two silvers and one bronze, all in the two longer races.
Athlete | Event | Final | |
---|---|---|---|
Time | Rank | ||
Georgios Anninos | 100 m freestyle | Unknown | 3-10 |
Efstathios Chorafas | Unknown | 3-10 | |
Alexandros Chrysafos | Unknown | 3-10 | |
Ag. Diamantopoulos | DNS | ||
I. Dontis | DNS | ||
Dimitris Frangopoulos | DNS | ||
Georgios Gaitanos | DNS | ||
G. K. Karagiannis | DNS | ||
Nikolaos Katravas | DNS | ||
V. Khatzis | DNS | ||
Theod. Kontos | DNS | ||
P. F. Koukoudakis | DNS | ||
Georgios Lamprakis | DNS | ||
Sav. Laskaridis | DNS | ||
Merk. Lerias | DNS | ||
V. Mangourakis | DNS | ||
I. Markou | DNS | ||
G. Marnezos | DNS | ||
Panagiotis Nastos | DNS | ||
Georgios Petrou | DNS | ||
Fill. Pothitos | DNS | ||
Emm. Valetsiotis | DNS | ||
Ir. Vlachos | DNS | ||
Sol. Xenopoulos | DNS | ||
Four others, names unknown | Unknown | 3-10 | |
Efstathios Chorafas | 500 m freestyle | Unknown | |
Dimitrios Christopoulos | DNS | ||
Ag. Diamantopoulos | DNS | ||
I. Dontis | DNS | ||
Dimitris Frangopoulos | DNS | ||
Georgios Gaitanos | DNS | ||
I. Georgiadis | DNS | ||
A. Grigoriadis | DNS | ||
Nikolaos Katravas | DNS | ||
V. Khatzis | DNS | ||
Theod. Kontos | DNS | ||
Nik. Kourakos | DNS | ||
K. Kourkoulas | DNS | ||
Sav. Laskaridis | DNS | ||
Merk. Lerias | DNS | ||
V. Mangourakis | DNS | ||
I. Markou | DNS | ||
G. Marnezos | DNS | ||
G. Mazoukas | DNS | ||
P. Mikhalopoulos | DNS | ||
Panagiotis Nastos | DNS | ||
Antonios Pepanos | 9:57.6 | ||
Fill. Pothitos | DNS | ||
K. Salouros | DNS | ||
D. Santanis | DNS | ||
N. Stournaras | DNS | ||
Sol. Xenopoulos | DNS | ||
A. Zanos | DNS | ||
Ioannis Andreou | 1200 m freestyle | 21:03.4 | |
G. Athanasiou | DNS | ||
Efstathios Chorafas | DNS | ||
Ag. Diamantopoulos | DNS | ||
I. Dontis | DNS | ||
Dimitris Frangopoulos | DNS | ||
Nikolaos Katravas | Unknown | 3-8 | |
V. Khatzis | DNS | ||
Theod. Kontos | DNS | ||
Nik. Kourakos | DNS | ||
P. F. Koukoudakis | DNS | ||
Sav. Laskaridis | DNS | ||
Merk. Lerias | DNS | ||
Panagiotis Nastos | DNS | ||
Antonios Pepanos | DNS | ||
A. Romantzas | DNS | ||
Emm. Valetsiotis | DNS | ||
Sol. Xenopoulos | DNS | ||
Three others, names unknown | Unknown | 3-8 | |
Spyridon Chazapis | Sailors 100 m freestyle | Unknown | |
Dimitrios Drivas | Unknown | ||
Nik. Kourakos | DNS | ||
K. Kourkoulas | DNS | ||
Ioannis Malokinis | 2:20.4 | ||
P. Mikhalopoulos | DNS | ||
K. Salouros | DNS | ||
D. Santanis | DNS | ||
N. Stournaras | DNS |
Greece earned a silver medal and a bronze medal in the singles tournament. Kasdaglis and Petrokokkinos won a silver medal in doubles tournament.
Athlete | Event | First round | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Rank | ||
Aristidis Akratopoulos | Singles | Flack (AUS) W | Paspatis (GRE) L | Did not advance | ||
Konstantinos Akratopoulos | Bye | Kasdaglis (GRE) L | Did not advance | |||
Dimitris Frangopoulos | Tapavica (HUN) L | Did not advance | ||||
Dimitrios Kasdaglis | J. Defert (FRA) W | Akratopoulos (GRE) W | Tapavica (HUN) W | Boland (GBR) L 3–6, 1-6 | ||
Konstantinos Paspatis | Robertson (GBR) W | Akratopoulos (GRE) W | Boland (GBR) L | Did not advance | ||
Demetrios Petrokokkinos | Rallis (GRE) L | Did not advance | ||||
Evangelos Rallis | Petrokokkinos (GRE) W | Boland (GBR) L | Did not advance | |||
Dimitrios Kasdaglis / Demetrios Petrokokkinos (GRE) | Doubles | — | Paspatis / Rallis (GRE)W | Flack (AUS) / Robertson (GBR)W | Boland (GBR) / Traun (GER)L 7–5, 4–6, 1-6 | |
Aristidis Akratopoulos / Konstantinos Akratopoulos (GRE) | — | Boland (GBR) / Traun (GER)L | Did not advance | |||
Konstantinos Paspatis / Evangelos Rallis (GRE) | — | Kasdaglis / Petrokokkinos (GRE)L | Did not advance |
In the one handed event, weightlifters had to lift with each hand successively. Nikolopoulos was able to list 57 kilograms with one hand, but only 40 kilograms with the other. He was judged to have come in third place in the event between the silver medallist Viggo Jensen who had lifted 57 with each hand and 4th-place finisher Versis who had lifted 40 with each, but had not been able to lift 57 with either.
Lifting form was used to break ties in the two handed competition.
Athlete | Event | Result | Rank |
---|---|---|---|
Alexandros Nikolopoulos | Men's one hand lift | 57.0 | |
Sotirios Versis | 40.0 | 4 | |
Georgios Papasideris | Men's two hand lift | 90.0 | =4 |
Sotirios Versis | 90.0 |
Christopoulos won a battle of endurance against Momcsilló Tapavicza in the quarterfinals of the wrestling tournament. He then had to face Tsitas, who had received a bye in that round. Tsitas won after Christopoulos retired due to a shoulder injury; Christopoulous received the bronze medal. Tsitas then faced Carl Schuhmann in the final. Schuhmann, having had a bye in the semifinals, took 55 minutes over two days to defeat Tsitas, the match having to be postponed on account of darkness after 40 minutes on the first day.
Athlete | Event | Quarterfinal | Semifinal | Final | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Rank | ||
Stephanos Christopoulos | Men's Greco-Roman | Tapavica (HUN) W | Tsitas (GRE) L | Did not advance | |
Georgios Tsitas | Bye | Christopoulos (GRE) W | Schuhmann (GER) L |
The 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad and commonly known as Athens 1896, were the first international Olympic Games held in modern history. Organised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which had been created by French aristocrat Pierre de Coubertin, the event was held in Athens, Greece, from 6 to 15 April 1896.
At the 1896 Summer Olympics, two weightlifting events were contested. The top two places were won by the same two men in each event, though their order was reversed for the two events. The bronze medals were split by the two Greek weightlifters. A total of seven men from five nations competed.
Carl August Berthold Schuhmann was a German athlete who won four Olympic titles in gymnastics and wrestling at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, becoming the most successful athlete at the inaugural Olympics of the modern era. He also competed in weightlifting.
Three athletes from Denmark competed in five sports at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens. Two of the three combined to win a gold medal, two silvers, and three bronzes, while Eugen Schmidt earned no medals. Viggo Jensen contributed one of each color, while Holger Nielsen earned the second silver and two bronzes. Shooting and weightlifting were Denmark's most successful sports. Denmark had 15 entries in 12 events, winning six medals.
France competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 6 to 15 April 1896. French athletes had appeared in every Summer Olympic Games of the modern era, alongside Australia, Great Britain, and Greece. France won the fourth-most gold medals with 5 and the fourth-most total medals with 11. Cycling was the sport in which the French competitors had the most success, as they completely dominated the field. The French team had 27 entries in 18 events, winning 11 medals.
Germany competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The Germans were the third most successful nation in terms of both gold medals and total medals (13). Gymnastics was the sport in which Germany excelled. The German team had 19 athletes. The Germans had 75 entries in 26 events, taking 13 medals.
Ten athletes from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland competed in seven sports at the 1896 Summer Olympics. The Great Britain athletes were the fifth most successful in terms of overall medals (7) and tied for fifth in gold medals (2). The 7 medals came on 23 entries in 14 events.
Fourteen competitors from the United States competed in three sports at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The Americans were the most successful athletes in terms of gold medals, beating host nation Greece, 11 to 10, despite fielding only 14 competitors compared to an estimated 169 Greek entrants. However, the Greeks' 46 total medals dwarfed the Americans' 20.
Georgios Tsitas was a Greek wrestler. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.
Stephanos Christopoulos was a Greek wrestler. He was a member of Gymnastiki Etaireia Patron, that merged in 1923 with Panachaikos Gymnastikos syllogos to become Panachaiki Gymnastiki Enosi.
Hungary first participated at the Olympic Games at the inaugural 1896 Games, and has sent athletes to compete in most Summer Olympic Games and every Winter Olympic Games since then. The nation was not invited to the 1920 Games for its role in World War I, and was part of the Soviet-led boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics.
Greece has competed at every Summer Olympic Games, one of five countries to have done so, and most of the Winter Olympic Games. Greece has hosted the modern Olympic Games twice, both in Athens for the Summer Olympic Games, in 1896 and 2004.
The modern Olympic Games were founded by French historian Pierre de Coubertin. France has competed in every edition, with the possible exception of the 1904 Games.
The men's two hand lift was one of two weightlifting events held as part of the Weightlifting at the 1896 Summer Olympics program. The two-handed lift was the first weightlifting event on 7 April. Six athletes took part. Viggo Jensen of Denmark and Launceston Elliot of the United Kingdom both lifted 111.5 kilograms, and the tie was broken by a determination by Prince George that Jensen had performed the lift with better form than had Elliot. A protest by the British delegation resulted in each athlete being given further attempts to improve their scores. Neither did, and the results stood as originally declared with Jensen taking the gold medal. Jensen had, however, suffered from the extra lifts in that he experienced a slight injury in trying to lift more than he was able.
The men's Greco-Roman was the only wrestling event on the Wrestling at the 1896 Summer Olympics programme.
Norway competed at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. 190 competitors, 188 men and 2 women, took part in 58 events in 14 sports.
The men's parallel bars competition was one of eight events for male competitors of the artistic gymnastics discipline contested in the gymnastics at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. The qualification and final rounds took place on August 14 and August 23 at the Olympic Indoor Hall. There were 81 competitors from 31 nations, with nations competing in the team event having up to 5 gymnasts and other nations having up to 2 gymnasts. The event was won by Valeriy Honcharov of Ukraine, the nation's second victory in the parallel bars. Hiroyuki Tomita took silver, putting Japan above the Soviet Union on the all-time medal table for the event. Li Xiaopeng of China became the seventh man to win multiple parallel bars medals with his bronze adding to his 2000 gold.
The men's pommel horse competition was one of eight events for male competitors of the artistic gymnastics discipline contested in the gymnastics at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. The qualification and final rounds took place on August 14 and August 22 at the Olympic Indoor Hall. There were 80 competitors from 31 nations, with nations competing in the team event having up to 5 gymnasts and other nations having up to 2 gymnasts. The event was won by Teng Haibin of China, the nation's first victory in the pommel horse since 1984 and second overall. Marius Urzică of Romania took silver to become the first man to win three medals on the pommel horse. Takehiro Kashima put Japan back on the pommel horse podium for the first time since 1988 with his bronze.
The men's rings competition was one of eight events for male competitors of the artistic gymnastics discipline contested in the gymnastics at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. The qualification and final rounds took place on August 14 and August 22 at the O.A.C.A. Olympic Indoor Hall. There were 77 competitors from 28 nations, with nations competing in the team event having up to 5 gymnasts and other nations having up to 2 gymnasts. The event was won by Dimosthenis Tampakos of Greece, the nation's first victory in the rings since 1896 and second overall. Yordan Yovchev of Bulgaria took silver, while Jury Chechi of Italy earned bronze. All three men had previously won a medal in the event; they were the 9th, 10th, and 11th men to win multiple rings medals.
The men's rings competition was one of eight events for male competitors in artistic gymnastics at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. The qualification and final rounds took place on September 16 and 24 at the Sydney Super Dome. There were 78 competitors from 29 nations; nations competing in the team event could have up to 5 gymnasts in the vault, while other nations could have up to 2 gymnasts. The event was won by Szilveszter Csollány of Hungary, the nation's first victory in the rings. Csollány, who had taken silver in 1996, became the eighth man to win multiple medals in the event. The silver this time went to Dimosthenis Tampakos of Greece—the first medal in the event for a Greek gymnast since 1896. Yordan Yovchev earned Bulgaria's first rings medal since 1960 with his bronze.