Greece at the 1896 Summer Olympics

Greece at the 1896 Summer Olympics
IOC code	GRE
NOC	Hellenic Olympic Committee
Website	www.hoc.gr (Greek) (English)
in Athens
Competitors	169 in 9 sports
Medals Ranked 2nd	Gold Silver Bronze Total 10 17 19 46
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016
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 46, 26 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.

Medalists

Medal	Name	Sport	Event
01 ! Gold	Louis, SpyridonSpyridon Louis	Athletics	Men's marathon
01 ! Gold	Konstantinidis, AristidisAristidis Konstantinidis	Cycling	Men's road race
01 ! Gold	Pyrgos, LeonidasLeonidas Pyrgos	Fencing	Men's masters foil
01 ! Gold	Georgiadis, IoannisIoannis Georgiadis	Fencing	Men's sabre
01 ! Gold	Mitropoulos, IoannisIoannis Mitropoulos	Gymnastics	Men's rings
01 ! Gold	Andriakopoulos, NikolaosNikolaos Andriakopoulos	Gymnastics	Men's rope climbing
01 ! Gold	Karasevdas, PantelisPantelis Karasevdas	Shooting	Men's 200 m military rifle
01 ! Gold	Orphanidis, GeorgiosGeorgios Orphanidis	Shooting	Men's 300 m free rifle, three positions
01 ! Gold	Frangoudis, IoannisIoannis Frangoudis	Shooting	Men's 25 m rapid fire pistol
01 ! Gold	Malokinis, IoannisIoannis Malokinis	Swimming	Men's sailors 100 m freestyle
02 ! Silver	Vasilakos, CharilaosCharilaos Vasilakos	Athletics	Men's marathon
02 ! Silver	Gouskos, MiltiadisMiltiadis Gouskos	Athletics	Men's shot put
02 ! Silver	Paraskevopoulos, PanagiotisPanagiotis Paraskevopoulos	Athletics	Men's discus throw
02 ! Silver	Nikolopoulos, StamatiosStamatios Nikolopoulos	Cycling	Men's sprint
			Men's time trial
02 ! Silver	Kolettis, GeorgiosGeorgios Kolettis	Cycling	Men's 100 km
02 ! Silver	Karakalos, TilemachosTilemachos Karakalos	Fencing	Men's sabre
02 ! Silver	Xenakis, ThomasThomas Xenakis	Gymnastics	Men's rope climbing
02 ! Silver	Andriakopoulos, NikolaosNikolaos Andriakopoulos, Spyridon Athanasopoulos, Petros Persakis, Thomas Xenakis	Gymnastics	Men's team parallel bars
02 ! Silver	Pavlidis, PanagiotisPanagiotis Pavlidis	Shooting	Men's 200 m military rifle
02 ! Silver	Frangoudis, IoannisIoannis Frangoudis	Shooting	Men's 300 m free rifle, three positions
02 ! Silver	Orphanidis, GeorgiosGeorgios Orphanidis	Shooting	Men's 25 m rapid fire pistol
02 ! Silver	Pepanos, AntoniosAntonios Pepanos	Swimming	Men's 500 m freestyle
02 ! Silver	Andreou, IoannisIoannis Andreou	Swimming	Men's 1200 m freestyle
02 ! Silver	Chazapis, SpyridonSpyridon Chazapis	Swimming	Men's sailors 100 m freestyle
02 ! Silver	Kasdaglis, DionysiosDionysios Kasdaglis	Tennis	Men's singles
02 ! Silver	Kasdaglis, DionysiosDionysios Kasdaglis, Demetrios Petrokokkinos	Tennis	Men's doubles
02 ! Silver	Tsitas, GeorgiosGeorgios Tsitas	Wrestling	Men's Greco-Roman
03 ! Bronze	Golemis, DimitriosDimitrios Golemis	Athletics	Men's 800 m
03 ! Bronze	Damaskos, EvangelosEvangelos Damaskos	Athletics	Men's pole vault
03 ! Bronze	Theodoropoulos, IoannisIoannis Theodoropoulos	Athletics	Men's pole vault
03 ! Bronze	Persakis, IoannisIoannis Persakis	Athletics	Men's triple jump
03 ! Bronze	Papasideris, GeorgiosGeorgios Papasideris	Athletics	Men's shot put
03 ! Bronze	Versis, SotiriosSotirios Versis	Athletics	Men's discus throw
03 ! Bronze	Pierrakos-Mavromichalis, PeriklisPeriklis Pierrakos-Mavromichalis	Fencing	Men's foil
03 ! Bronze	Persakis, PetrosPetros Persakis	Gymnastics	Men's rings
03 ! Bronze	Chrysafis, IoannisIoannis Chrysafis, Filippos Karvelas, Dimitrios Loundras, Ioannis Mitropoulos	Gymnastics	Men's team parallel bars
03 ! Bronze	Trikoupis, NikolaosNikolaos Trikoupis	Shooting	Men's 200 m military rifle
03 ! Bronze	Morakis, NikolaosNikolaos Morakis	Shooting	Men's 25 m military pistol
03 ! Bronze	Frangoudis, IoannisIoannis Frangoudis	Shooting	Men's 30 m free pistol
03 ! Bronze	Chorafas, EfstathiosEfstathios Chorafas	Swimming	Men's 500 m freestyle
			Men's 1200 m freestyle
03 ! Bronze	Drivas, DimitriosDimitrios Drivas	Swimming	Men's sailors 100 m freestyle
03 ! Bronze	Paspatis, KonstantinosKonstantinos Paspatis	Tennis	Men's singles
03 ! Bronze	Nikolopoulos, AlexandrosAlexandros Nikolopoulos	Weightlifting	Men's one hand lift
03 ! Bronze	Versis, SotiriosSotirios Versis	Weightlifting	Men's two hand lift
03 ! Bronze	Christopoulos, StephanosStephanos Christopoulos	Wrestling	Men's Greco-Roman

Results by event

Athletics

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.

Cycling

Greece had entries in all six cycling events, winning one and taking second place in three more.

Fencing

Group of French and Greek fencers at 1896 Summer Olympics

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.

Gymnastics

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.

Shooting

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.

Swimming

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 two bronzes, all in the two longer races.

Tennis

Greece earned a silver medal and a bronze medal in the singles tournament. Kasdaglis and Petrokokkinos competed as a mixed team, winning another silver which is not counted in the Greek total.

Opponent nation	Wins	Losses	Percent
Australia	1	0	1.000
France	1	0	1.000
Hungary	1	1	.500
Great Britain	1	3	.250
Mixed team	1	3	.250
Total international	5	7	.417
Greece	4	3	.571
Total	9	10	.474

Weightlifting

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.

Wrestling

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, giving Christopoulos the bronze medal and a shoulder injury. Tsitas then faced Carl Schuhmann in the final. Schuhmann, having had a bye in the semifinals, took two days to defeat Tsitas, the match having to be postponed on account of darkness at the end of 40 minutes in the first day.

Notes

1. ↑ The names of 103 competitors are known. Up to 7 unknown swimmers, 22 unknown shooters, and 44 unknown gymnasts competed for a total of 176. Most historians reduce the number of swimmers to 6 unknowns, saying that two of the entries were by the same swimmer, as well as noting that the 104 known competitors include three gymnasts who probably were among the 44 unnamed competitors in the team event. These two changes reduce the total competitors to 172. A comparison of Mallon's tables of multiple-event athletes indicates that he believes 3 of the unknown gymnasts also competed in other sports, reducing the number further to 169, which is the number he uses for Greece, Smyrna and Cyprus.

References

• Lampros, S.P.; Polites, N.G.; De Coubertin, Pierre; Philemon, P.J.; Anninos, C. (1897). The Olympic Games: BC 776 – AD 1896. Athens: Charles Beck.  (Digitally available at )
• Mallon, Bill; Widlund, Ture (1998). The 1896 Olympic Games. Results for All Competitors in All Events, with Commentary. Jefferson: McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0379-9.  (Excerpt available at )
• Smith, Michael Llewellyn (2004). Olympics in Athens 1896. The Invention of the Modern Olympic Games. London: Profile Books. ISBN 1-86197-342-X.