1896 Summer Olympics

The 1896 Summer Olympics, formally called the Games of the I Olympiad, were the first modern Summer Olympic Games and the first Games since Roman emperor Theodosius I banned the Ancient Olympic Games in AD 393 as part of the Christian campaign against paganism. They were held between 6 April and 15 April 1896.

Sport by sport overview

At the 1894 Sorbonne congress, a large roster of sports had been mentioned for the programme in Athens. The first edition of the official announcement featured sports such as football and cricket, but these plans were never carried out. Rowing was scheduled, but had to be cancelled due to strong winds on the planned day of competition. Yachting was cancelled too, because "we had no proper boats for this, nor did any foreign ones appear for the contest" (Official Report).

Related Topics:
Football - Cricket - Rowing - Yachting

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Athletics

Main article: Athletics at the 1896 Summer Olympics

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The athletics events (commonly known today as "track and field" in the United States), which were held in the Panathenaic Stadium, had the most international field of any of the sports.

Related Topics:
Athletics - United States

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The American team of 10, which featured only one national champion, was dominant, taking 9 of the 12 titles. The major highlight of the athletics programme, however, was the marathon held for the first time in international competition. Spiridon Louis, a previously unrenowned water carrier, won the event to become the only Greek athletics champion and a national hero. No world records were set, as few international top competitors had turned up. In addition, the curves of the track were very tight, making fast times in the running events virtually impossible.

Related Topics:
Marathon - Spiridon Louis - Greek - World record

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Cycling

Main article: Cycling at the 1896 Summer Olympics

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The track cycling events were held at the newly built Neo Phaliron Velodrome. Only one road event was held, a race from Athens to Marathon and back (87 kilometres).

Related Topics:
Track cycling - Neo Phaliron Velodrome

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Frenchman Paul Masson was the best cyclist on the track, winning the one lap time trial, the sprint event, and the 10,000 metres. In the 100 kilometres event, Masson entered as a pacemaker for his compatriot Léon Flameng. Flameng won the event, after a fall, and after stopping to wait for his Greek opponent Kolettis to fix a mechanical problem. The Austrian fencer Adolf Schmal won the 12 hours race, which was completed by only two cyclists, while the road race event was won by Aristidis Konstantinidis.

Related Topics:
Frenchman - Paul Masson - Time trial - Léon Flameng - Austria - Aristidis Konstantinidis

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Fencing

Main article: Fencing at the 1896 Summer Olympics

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The fencing events were held in the Zappeion, named after Evangelos Zappas, who had organized Greek Olympic Games in the mid-19th century. Unlike other sports, professionals were allowed to compete in fencing. Unlike other professionals, these so-called fencing masters were considered gentlemen athletes, just as the amateurs.

Related Topics:
Zappeion - Evangelos Zappas

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Four events were scheduled, but the epee event was cancelled for reasons unknown. The foil event was won by a Frenchman, Eugène-Henri Gravelotte, while the other two events, the sabre and the foil for masters, were won by Greek fencers. Leonidas Pyrgos, who won the latter event, became the first Greek to become Olympic champion in the modern era.

Related Topics:
Epee - Eugène-Henri Gravelotte - Leonidas Pyrgos

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Gymnastics

Main article: Gymnastics at the 1896 Summer Olympics

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The gymnastics exercises were carried out on the infield of the Panathenaic Stadium. Germany had sent an 11-man team, which dominated and won 5 of the 8 events, including both team events. In the team event on the horizontal bar, the German team was unopposed. Three Germans added individual titles. Hermann Weingärtner, who also took two seconds and a third place, won the horizontal bar event, while Alfred Flatow won the parallel bars. Carl Schuhmann, who also competed successfully in wrestling, won the vault.

Related Topics:
Horizontal bar - Hermann Weingärtner - Alfred Flatow - Parallel bars - Carl Schuhmann - Vault

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The remaining events were won by Louis Zutter, a Swiss gymnast who won the pommel horse, while Greeks Ioannis Mitropoulos and Nikolaos Andriakopoulos were victorious in the rings and rope climbing events, respectively.

Related Topics:
Louis Zutter - Swiss - Pommel horse - Ioannis Mitropoulos - Nikolaos Andriakopoulos - Rings - Rope climbing

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Shooting

Main article: Shooting at the 1896 Summer Olympics

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Held at a shooting range at Kallithea, there were five shooting events—two rifle events and three pistol shooting competitions.

Related Topics:
Kallithea - Shooting - Rifle - Pistol

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The first event, for military rifles over 200 metres, was won by Pantelis Karasevdas, the only competitor to hit the target with all of his shots. The second event, for military pistols, was dominated by two brothers, Americans John and Sumner Paine. In order to avoid embarrassing their hosts, the brothers decided that only one of them would compete in the next pistol event, the free pistol. Sumner Paine dominated that event alone, thereby becoming the first relative of an Olympic champion to become Olympic champion himself.

Related Topics:
Pantelis Karasevdas - Americans - John - Sumner Paine

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The Paine brothers did not compete in the 25 metre pistol event, as their weapons were judged to be not of the required calibre. In their absence, Joannis Phrangoudis won. Frangoudis also placed second in the final event, the free rifle, held on the same day. However, the event could not be completed due to darkness, and was completed on the next morning, when Georgios Orphanidis was celebrated as the champion.

Related Topics:
Joannis Phrangoudis - Georgios Orphanidis

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Swimming

Main article: Swimming at the 1896 Summer Olympics

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Unlike today, the 1896 swimming competitions were held at open sea. Nearly 20,000 spectators were noted to have watched the event, in the Bay of Zea, off the Piraeus coast.

Related Topics:
Bay of Zea - Piraeus

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All four events were held on the same day (11 April). For Alfréd Hajós of Hungary, this meant he could only compete in two of the events, as they were held shortly after one another, giving him little time to recuperate. Nevertheless, he won the two events in which he swam, the 100 metres and the 1200 metres freestyle. Hajós later became one of only two Olympians to win a medal in both athletic and artistic competitions when he won a silver medal for architecture in 1924.

Related Topics:
11 April - Alfréd Hajós - Freestyle - Artistic competitions - 1924

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The third event, the 500 metres freestyle, was won by Austrian swimmer Paul Neumann, beating his opponents by more than one-and-a-half minutes. In addition, a swimming event especially for Greek sailors was held.

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Tennis

Main article: Tennis at the 1896 Summer Olympics

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Although tennis was already a major sport by the end of the 19th century, none of the top players turned up for the tournament in Athens, which was held at the courts of the Athens Lawn Tennis Club, and the infield of the velodrome.

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Irishman John Pius Boland, who was in Athens on holiday, had been entered in the competition by a Greek friend, and won relatively easy. In the first round, he defeated Friedrich Traun, a German who had been eliminated in the 800 m competition. They decided to team up for the doubles event, in which they reached the final and defeated their Greek and Egyptian opponents after losing the first set.

Related Topics:
John Pius Boland - Egypt

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Weightlifting

Main article: Weightlifting at the 1896 Summer Olympics

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The sport of weightlifting was still very young in 1896, and the rules different from those in use today. Competitions were held outdoors, in the infield of the main stadium, and there were no weight limits.

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The first event was the two-handed event, held in a style now known as "clean and jerk". Two competitors stood out: Launceston Elliot of Britain and Viggo Jensen of Denmark. Both of them lifted the same weight; but the jury, with Prince George as the chairman, ruled that Jensen had done so in a better style. The British delegation, unfamiliar with this tie-breaking rule, lodged a protest. The lifters were eventually allowed make further attempts, but neither lifter improved, and Jensen was declared the champion.

Related Topics:
Clean and jerk - Launceston Elliot - Viggo Jensen - Prince George

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Elliot got his revenge in the single handed "snatch" event, which was held immediately after the two-handed one. Jensen had been slightly injured in his last two-handed attempt, and was no match for Elliot, who won the competition easily ahead of Jensen. The Greek audience was very charmed by the British victor, whom they considered very attractive. Allegedly, he even received a marriage proposal from a "highly placed lady" in the audience.

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Wrestling

Main article: Wrestling at the 1896 Summer Olympics

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No weight classes existed for the wrestling competition, held in the Panathenaic Stadium which meant that there would only be one winner among competitors of all sizes. The rules used were similar to modern Greco-Roman wrestling, although there was no time limit, and not all leg holds were forbidden (in contrast to current rules).

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Apart from the two Greek contestants, all competitors had previously been active in other sports. Weightlifting champion Launceston Elliot faced gymnastics champion Carl Schuhmann from Germany. The latter won easily and advanced into the final, where he met Georgios Tsitas. Their final match had to be abandoned after 40 minutes of wrestling when darkness fell in and was continued the following day, when the German finished the bout within a quarter of an hour.

Related Topics:
Launceston Elliot - Carl Schuhmann - Georgios Tsitas

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