Greece at the 1896 Summer Olympics
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.
| Greece at the 1896 Summer Olympics | |
|---|---|
.svg.png.webp) | |
| 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 |
|
| Summer Olympics appearances (overview) | |
| Other related appearances | |
| 1906 Intercalated Games | |
Medalists
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 |
Multiple medalists
The following competitors won multiple medals at the 1896 Olympic Games.
Competitors
|
The following is the list of number of competitors in the Games.
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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.
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 | | |
Cycling
Greece had entries in all six cycling events, winning one and taking second place in three more.
Track
| 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 | ||
Road
| 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 |
Fencing
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 | — | | |
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.
- Team
| 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 | |
- Individual
| 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 | |
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 one bronze, all in the two longer races.
| Athlete | Event | Final | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Rank | ||
| Georgios Anninos | 100 m freestyle | Unkwown | 3-10 |
| Efstathios Chorafas | Unkwown | 3-10 | |
| Alexandros Chrysafos | Unkwown | 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 | ||
Tennis
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 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} 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) /.svg.png.webp){kind=small} 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 | |||
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.
| 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 | |
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.
| 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 |
| |
Notes
- 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.
