Adolphe Grisel

Adolphe Jules Grisel (9 December 1872 – 13 December 1942)[1] was a French athlete and gymnast. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.[2]

Adolphe Grisel

Grisel in 1896
Personal information
Born	9 December 1872 Paris, France
Died	13 December 1942(1942-12-13) (aged 70) Saint-Quentin, Aisne, German-occupied France
Sport
Sport	Athletics, gymnastics

From 1895, Grisel was affiliated to the Racing Club de France. He was the French National long jump champion in 1896, with a jump of 6.23 metres,[3] and the runner-up in 1893, 1895 and 1898; he placed third in the sport in 1894. He was also the runner-up in the 400 metre hurdles in the French national championship in 1895.[2]

At the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Grisel competed in five different events, four in athletics and one in gymnastics.[2] On April 6, he came fourth out of five in his heat in the 100 metres and so failed to qualify for the finals.[4] In the 400 metres, his failure to place in the top two in his heat again disqualified him from progressing further.[5] He also competed in the discus: there is no no record of the distance that he threw, but he was not among the top four of the nine participants in the competition.[6]

On April 7, Grisel returned to the Panathenaic Stadium to compete in the long jump. Again there is no official record of his result,[7] but unofficial reports say that he jumped 5.83 metres and finished in fifth place.[8]

After a two day break, Grisel competed in the parallel bars gymnastica event;, Alfred Flatow (gold) and Louis Zutter (silver) were the only athletes awarded medals, and there is no official record of the results achieved by the other sixteen gymnasts involved.[9] Grisel concluded his participation in the Games by supporting his compatriot Albin Lermusiaux, accomanying Lermusiaux on a bicycle as he competed in the marathon.[10]