- Greece at the 1896 Summer Olympics
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Greece at the Olympic Games 
Flag of Greece – Flag bearersIOC code GRE NOC Hellenic Olympic Committee Website www.hoc.gr (Greek) (English) At the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens Competitors 169 in 9 sports Medals
Rank: 2Gold
10Silver
17Bronze
19Total
46Olympic history (summary) Summer Games 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 Winter Games 1924 • 1928 • 1932 • 1936 • 1948 • 1952 • 1956 • 1960 • 1964 • 1968 • 1972 • 1976 • 1980 • 1984 • 1988 • 1992 • 1994 • 1998 • 2002 • 2006 • 2010 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.
Contents
Medalists
Gold
- Nikolaos Andriakopoulos - gymnastics, rope climbing
- Ioannis Georgiadis - fencing, sabre
- Pantelis Karasevdas - shooting, military rifle
- Aristidis Konstantinidis - cycling, road race
- Spiridon Louis - athletics, marathon
- Ioannis Malokinis - swimming, 100 metres for sailors
- Ioannis Mitropoulos - gymnastics, rings
- Georgios Orphanidis - shooting, free rifle
- Ioannis Phrangoudis - shooting, rapid fire pistol
- Leonidas Pyrgos - fencing, masters foil
Silver
- Ioannis Andreou - swimming, 1,200 metres freestyle
- Spyridon Chazapis - swimming, 100 metres for sailors
- Miltiadis Gouskos - athletics, shot put
- Telemachos Karakalos - fencing, sabre
- Dionysios Kasdaglis - tennis, singles
- Georgios Kolettis - cycling, 100 kilometres
- Stamatios Nikolopoulos - cycling, 333 metres, 2 kilometres
- Georgios Orphanidis - shooting, rapid fire pistol
- Panagiotis Paraskevopoulos - athletics, discus throw
- Pavlos Pavlidis - shooting, military rifle
- Antonios Pepanos - swimming, 500 metres freestyle
- Ioannis Frangoudis - shooting, free rifle
- Georgios Tsitas - wrestling, Greco-Roman
- Charilaos Vasilakos - athletics, marathon
- Thomas Xenakis - gymnastics, rope climbing
- Panellinios Gymnastikos Syllogos - gymnastics, team parallel bars
Bronze
- Efstathios Choraphas - swimming, 500 metres freestyle, 1,200 metres freestyle
- Stephanos Christopoulos - wrestling, Greco-Roman
- Evangelos Damaskos - athletics, pole vault
- Dimitrios Drivas - swimming, 100 metres for sailors
- Dimitrios Golemis - athletics, 800 metres
- Nikolaos Morakis - shooting, military pistol
- Alexandros Nikolopoulos - weightlifting, one-handed
- Georgios Papasideris - athletics, shot put
- Konstantinos Paspatis - tennis, singles
- Ioannis Persakis - athletics, triple jump
- Petros Persakis - gymnastics, rings
- Ioannis Frangoudis - shooting, free pistol
- Periklis Pierrakos-Mavromichalis - fencing, amateur foil
- Ioannis Theodoropoulos - athletics, pole vault
- Nikolaos Trikoupis - shooting, military rifle
- Sotirios Versis - athletics, discus throw, weightlifting, two-handed
- Ethnikos Gymnastikos Syllogos - gymnastics, team parallel bars
Results by event
Athletics
Main article: Athletics at the 1896 Summer OlympicsThe 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.
Event Place Athlete Heat Final 100 metres 5th Alexandros Chalkokondylis 12.75 seconds 12.6 seconds – Georgios Gennimatas Unknown Did not advance 800 metres 3rd Dimitrios Golemis 2:16.8 2:28.0 – Angelos Fetsis Unknown Did not advance Dimitrios Tomprof Unknown 1500 metres 5th Angelos Fetsis No heats Unknown 6th Dimitrios Golemis Unknown – Konstantinos Karakatsanis Unknown Dimitrios Tomprof Unknown 110 metre hurdles – Athanasios Skaltsogiannis Unknown Did not advance Anastasios Andreou Unknown Marathon 1st Spiridon Louis No heats 2:58.50 2nd Charilaos Vasilakos 3:06:03 4th Ioannis Vrettos Unknown 5th Eleitherios Papasimeon Unknown 6th Dimitrios Deligiannis Unknown 7th Evangelos Gerakeris Unknown 8th Stamatios Masouris Unknown – Ioannis Lavrentis Did not finish Georgios Grigoriou Did not finish Ilias Kafetzis Did not finish Dimitrios Khristopoulos Did not finish Spyridon Belokas Disqualified Event Place Athlete Best mark Long jump 4th Alexandros Chalkokondylis 5.74 metres – Athanasios Skaltsogiannis Unknown Triple jump 3rd Ioannis Persakis 12.52 metres – Christos Zoumis Unknown Pole vault 3rd Evangelos Damaskos 2.60 metres Ioannis Theodoropoulos 2.60 metres 5th Vasilios Xydas 2.40 metres Shot put 2nd Miltiadis Gouskos 11.03 metres 3rd Georgios Papasideris 10.36 metres Discus throw 2nd Panagiotis Paraskevopoulos 28.95 metres 3rd Sotirios Versis 27.78 metres – Georgios Papasideris Unknown Cycling
Main article: Cycling at the 1896 Summer OlympicsGreece had entries in all six cycling events, winning one and taking second place in three more.
Event Place Cyclist Time/Distance 333 metres 2nd Stamatios Nikolopoulos 26.0 seconds 2 kilometres 2nd Stamatios Nikolopoulos 5:00.2 10 kilometres 5th Aristidis Konstantinidis Unknown – Georgios Kolettis Did not finish 100 kilometres 2nd Georgios Kolettis Unknown – Aristidis Konstantinidis Did not finish 12 hour race – Georgios Paraskevopoulos Did not finish Loverdos Did not finish A. Tryfiatis-Tripiaris Did not finish Konstantinos Konstantinou Did not finish Road race 1st Aristidis Konstantinidis 3:22:31 – Georgios Aspiotis Unknown Miltiades Iatrou Unknown Konstantinos Konstantinou Unknown Georgios Paraskevopoulos Unknown Fencing
Main article: Fencing at the 1896 Summer OlympicsGreek fencers won the top two places in the sabre competition, third place in the amateur foil competition, and in a major upset, Pyrgos defeated Jean Maurice Perronet in the sole match of the masters foil event.
Event Place Fencer Record Touches Round-robin Final Wins Losses For Against Foil 3rd Periklis Pierrakos-Mavromichalis 2 1 7 4 2nd
Group ADid not advance 4th Athanasios Vouros 2 1 8 4 2nd
Group BDid not advance 5th Konstantinos Komninos-Miliotis 1 2 5 7 3rd
Group BDid not advance 7th Georgios Balakakis 0 3 3 9 4th
Group BDid not advance Ioannis Poulos 0 3 4 9 4th
Group ADid not advance Masters foil 1st Leonidas Pyrgos 1 0 3 1 None held Won
3-1Sabre 1st Ioannis Georgiadis 4 0 12 6 1st None held 2nd Tilemachos Karakalos 3 1 11 5 2nd None held 5th Georgios Iatridis 0 4 3 12 5th None held Opponent nation Wins Losses Percent Austria 2 1 .667 Denmark 2 1 .667 France 2 6 .250 Total international 6 8 .429 Greece 7 7 .500 Total 13 15 .464 Gymnastics
Main article: Gymnastics at the 1896 Summer OlympicsThe 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.
Event Place Gymnast Parallel bars – Filippos Karvelas Ioannis Mitropoulos Antonios Papaigannou Horizontal bar – Antonios Papagiannou Leonidas Tsiklitiras Pommel horse – Aristovoulos Petmezas Rings 1st Ioannis Mitropoulos 3rd Petros Persakis Event Place Gymnast Height Rope climbing 1st Nikolaos Andriakopoulos 14.0 metres 2nd Thomas Xenakis 14.0 metres Event Place Team Team parallel bars 2nd Panellinios Gymnastikos Syllogos 3rd Ethnikos Gymnastikos Syllogos Shooting
Main article: Shooting at the 1896 Summer OlympicsGreek 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.
Event Place Shooter Score Hits Military rifle 1st Pantelis Karasevdas 2350 40 2nd Pavlos Pavlidis 1978 38 3rd Nicolaos Trikupis 1713 34 4th Anastasios Metaxas 1701 Unknown 5th Georgios Orphanidis 1698 Unknown 7th Georgios Diamantis 1456 Unknown 9th Ioannis Theofilakis 1261 Unknown 11th Alexios Fetsios 894 Unknown 12th Spiridon Stais 845 Unknown – Aristovoulos Petmezas Unknown G. Karagiannopoulos Unknown 22 others, names unknown Unknown Free rifle 1st Georgios Orphanidis 1583 37 2nd Ioannis Phrangoudis 1312 31 4th Anastasios Metaxas 1102 Unknown 5th Pantelis Karasevdas 1039 Unknown – Antelothanasis Unknown Georgios Diamantis Unknown Alexios Fetsios Unknown Karakatsanis Unknown Hatzidakis Unknown Nikolaos Levidis Unknown Zenon Mikhailidis Unknown Moustakopoulos Unknown Pavlos Pavlidis Unknown Alexandros Theofilakis Unknown Ioannis Theofilakis Unknown Nikolaos Trikupis Unknown – Leonidas Langakis Did not finish Ioannis Vourakis Did not finish Military pistol 3rd Nikolaos Morakis 205 Unknown 4th Ioannis Phrangoudis Unknown – Zenon Mikhailidis Unknown Georgios Orphanidis Unknown Pantazidis Unknown Patsouris Unknown Pavlos Pavlidis Unknown Aristovoulos Petmezas Unknown Platis Unknown Vavis Unknown – Pantelis Karasevdas Did not finish Sanidis Did not finish Rapid fire pistol 1st Ioannis Phrangoudis 344 23 2nd Georgios Orphanidis 249 20 Free pistol 3rd Ioannis Phrangoudis Unknown 4th Leonidas Morakis Unknown 5th Georgios Orphanidis Unknown Swimming
Main article: Swimming at the 1896 Summer OlympicsSome 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.
Event Place Swimmer Time 100 metre freestyle – Georgios Anninos Unknown Efstathios Chorophas Unknown Alexandros Khrisafos Unknown Four others, names unknown Unknown 500 metre freestyle 2nd Antonios Pepanos 9:57.6 3rd Efstathios Chorophas Unknown 1200 metre freestyle 2nd Joannis Andreou 21:03.4 3rd Efstathios Chorophas Unknown – N. Kartavas Unknown Three others, names unknown Unknown 100 metres, sailors 1st Ioannis Malokinis 2:20.4 2nd Spiridon Chasapis Unknown 3rd Dimitrios Drivas Unknown Tennis
Main article: Tennis at the 1896 Summer OlympicsGreece 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.
Event Place Player(s) Round 1 Quarterfinals Semifinals Final Singles 2nd Dionysios Kasdaglis Won Won Won Lost 3rd Konstantinos Paspatis Won Won Lost Did not advance 5th Aristidis Akratopoulos Won Lost Did not advance Konstantinos Akratopoulos Won
WalkoverLost Evangelos Rallis Won Lost 8th D. Frangopoulos Lost Did not advance Demetrios Petrokokkinos Lost Doubles 2nd Dionysios Kasdaglis
Demetrios PetrokokkinosNone held Won Won Lost 4th Aristidis Akratopoulos
Konstantinos AkratopoulosLost Did not advance Konstantinos Paspatis
Evangelos RallisLost Opponent nation Wins Losses Percent 
Australia1 0 1.000 
France1 0 1.000 
Hungary1 1 .500 Great Britain1 3 .250 
Mixed team1 3 .250 Total international 5 7 .417 Greece 4 3 .571 Total 9 10 .474 Weightlifting
Main article: Weightlifting at the 1896 Summer OlympicsIn 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.
Event Place Weightlifter Best lift One handed 3rd Alexandros Nikolopoulos 57.0 kilograms
40.0 kilograms4th Sotirios Versis 40.0 kilograms Two handed 3rd Sotirios Versis 90.0 kilograms 4th Georgios Papasideris 90.0 kilograms Wrestling
Main article: Wrestling at the 1896 Summer OlympicsChristopoulos 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.
Event Place Wrestler Quarterfinals Semifinals Final Greco-Roman 2nd Georgios Tsitas Bye Won Lost 3rd Stephanos Christopoulos Won Lost Did not advance Opponent nation Wins Losses Percent Germany 0 1 .000 Hungary 1 0 1.000 Total international 1 1 .500 Greece 1 1 .500 Total 2 2 .500 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 [1])
- 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 [2])
- Smith, Michael Llewellyn (2004). Olympics in Athens 1896. The Invention of the Modern Olympic Games. London: Profile Books. ISBN 1-86197-342-X.
Nations at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece Australia • Austria • Bulgaria • Chile • Denmark • France • Germany • Great Britain • Greece • Hungary • Italy • Sweden • Switzerland • United States • Mixed teams
Categories:- Nations at the 1896 Summer Olympics
- Greece at the Olympics
- 1896 in Greece
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