| Greece at the 1896 Summer Olympics | |
|---|---|
.svg) | |
| IOC code | GRE |
| NOC | Hellenic Olympic Committee |
| Website | www |
inAthens, GreeceApril 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 | |
Greece was the host nation of the1896 Summer Olympics held inAthens. 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 theUnited 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 inathletics and the vault and the team horizontal bar ingymnastics.
The following competitors won medals at the games. In the discipline sections below, the medalists' names arebolded.
| 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 |
The following competitors won multiple medals at the 1896 Olympic Games.
The following is the list of number of competitors in the Games.
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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 thatSpiridon 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 | 2Q | 12.6 | 5 |
| Georgios Gennimatas | Unknown | 4-5 | Did not advance | ||
| Konstantinos Mouratis | DNS | Did not advance | |||
| Konstantinos Mouratis | 400 m | DNS | Did not advance | ||
| Angelos Fetsis | 800 m | Unknown | 4 | Did not advance | |
| Dimitrios Golemis | 2:16.8 | 2Q | 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 | — | 2:58:50OR | | ||
| 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 | | |
Greece had entries in all six cycling events, winning one and taking second place in three more.
| 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 | ||
| 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 |
Greek fencers won the top two places in the sabre competition, third place in the amateur foil competition, and in a major upset, Pyrgos defeatedJoanni 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 | — | | |
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.
| 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 | |
| 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 | |
Greek shooters dominated the two rifle events and the rapid fire pistol competition, but were largely unable to compete with the Paine brothers of theUnited States in the pistol events that the two brothers entered.
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 | Unknown | 3-10 |
| Efstathios Chorafas | Unknown | 3-10 | |
| Alexandros Chrysafos | Unknown | 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 | ||
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 |  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) / 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 | |||
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 medallistViggo 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 | |
Christopoulos won a battle of endurance againstMomcsilló Tapavicza in the quarterfinals of the wrestling tournament. He then had to face Tsitas, who had received a bye in that round. Tsitas won after Christopoulos retired due to a shoulder injury; Christopoulous received the bronze medal. Tsitas then facedCarl Schuhmann in the final. Schuhmann, having had a bye in the semifinals, took 55 minutes over two days to defeat Tsitas, the match having to be postponed on account of darkness after 40 minutes on 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 | | |
