Athletics at the 1896 Summer Olympics

Athletics
at the Games of the I Olympiad
Athletics; at the Games of the I Olympiad
	The renovated Panathinaiko Stadium
Venue	Panathinaiko Stadium
Dates	6–10 April 1896
No. of events	12 (12 men, 0 women)
Competitors	63 from 9 nations

At the 1896 Summer Olympics, the first modern Olympiad, twelve athletics events were contested.[1] A total of 25 medals (12 silver for winners, 13 bronze for runner-up, none for third) were awarded. The medals were later denoted as 37 modern medals (12 gold, 13 silver, 12 bronze).[2] All of the events except the marathon were held in the Panathinaiko Stadium, which was also the finish for the marathon.[2] Events were held on 6 April, 7 April, 9 April, and 10 April 1896 (all dates are according to the Gregorian calendar).[2] Altogether, 63 athletes, all men, from nine nations competed.[2] This made athletics the most international of the nine sports at the 1896 Games.

Summary of events

The American team of 11, which featured only one national champion, was dominant, taking 9 of the 12 titles. No world records were set, because few international top competitors had participated. In addition, the curves of the track were very tight, making fast times in the running events virtually impossible.[2]

The heats of the 100 metres were the first Olympic event to be conducted, and the winner of the first heat, Francis Lane, can thus be considered the first Olympic winner. The first Olympic champion was crowned in the triple jump, Harvard student James Connolly. Connolly also did well in the other jumping events, placing second in the high jump and third in the long jump.

Many other athletes were versatile as well. Thomas Burke won both the 100 metres and 400 metres, a feat not since repeated, while London-based Australian Edwin Flack won the 800 and 1500 metres races. Robert Garrett, a Princeton student, won two first and two second places. His first title was in the discus throw, an event originating from the Ancient Olympics, but never before held at an international event. Garrett had attempted to train for the event with a 10 kilogram replica of a discus, but had given up as it was too heavy. When he learned the actual competition discus weighed only 2 kilograms, he entered the event after all, and won it, to the dismay of the Greek public, who considered their throwers "unbeatable".[3]

A second event held for the first time in international competition was the marathon foot race. It was conceived by Michel Bréal, a friend of Pierre de Coubertin, based on the legend of Pheidippides. This Athenian soldier first completed a two-day run to seek Spartan help against the invading Persians in the Battle of Marathon, and then ran from the town of Marathon to Athens days later to announce the victory, dying as a result of his heroic efforts. The race started in Marathon, and ran for 40 kilometres over dusty roads to Athens. The Greek public, disappointed as there had not yet been a Greek victor in athletics, was overjoyed when it was announced during the race that a Greek runner had taken the lead. When Spiridon Louis, a water carrier from Maroussi, arrived in the stadium he was accompanied by the Greek Crown Prince on his final lap. Louis would never again compete in a race, but his victory made him a national hero.[4]

The exploits of Louis, Garrett, Connolly, and Flack would be chronicled in the 1984 NBC miniseries, The First Olympics: Athens, 1896.

The day after the official marathon Stamata Revithi ran the 40-kilometer course in 5 hours 30 minutes,[5] finishing outside Panathinaiko Stadium. She was denied entry into the official competition since the 1896 Olympics excluded women from competition.[6]

Schedule

Legend
P	Preliminary round	Q	Qualification	H	Heats	½	Semifinals	F	Final

Men's
Date	Apr 6		Apr 7		Apr 8		Apr 9		Apr 10
Event	M	E	M	E	M	E	M	E	M	E
100 m	H									F
400 m	H			F
800 m	H						F
1500 m				F
110 m				H						F
Marathon										F
High jump										F
Pole vault										F
Long jump				F
Triple jump		F
Shot put				F
Discus throw		F

Medal summary

These medals were retroactively assigned by the International Olympic Committee; at the time, winners were given a silver medal and runners-up bronze medals. Athletes coming third received no award.

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres	Thomas Burke United States	12.0	Fritz Hofmann Germany	12.2	Francis Lane United States	12.6
100 metres	Thomas Burke United States	12.0	Fritz Hofmann Germany	12.2	Alajos Szokolyi Hungary	12.6
400 metres	Thomas Burke United States	56.2 OR	Herbert Jamison United States	58.2	Charles Gmelin Great Britain	60.7
800 metres	Edwin Flack Australia	2:11.0	Nándor Dáni Hungary	2:11.8	Dimitrios Golemis Greece	2:28.0
1500 metres	Edwin Flack Australia	4:33.2 OR	Arthur Blake United States	4:33.6	Albin Lermusiaux France	4:36.0
110 metre hurdles	Thomas Curtis United States	17.6 OR	Grantley Goulding Great Britain	17.6	none awarded
Marathon	Spiridon Louis Greece	2:58:50 OR	Charilaos Vasilakos Greece	3:06:03	Gyula Kellner Hungary	3:06:35
High jump	Ellery Clark United States	1.81 m OR	James Connolly United States	1.65 m	none awarded
High jump	Ellery Clark United States	1.81 m OR	Robert Garrett United States	1.65 m	none awarded
Pole vault	William Hoyt United States	3.30 m OR	Albert Tyler United States	3.20 m	Evangelos Damaskos Greece	2.60 m
Pole vault	William Hoyt United States	3.30 m OR	Albert Tyler United States	3.20 m	Ioannis Theodoropoulos Greece	2.60 m
Long jump	Ellery Clark United States	6.35 m OR	Robert Garrett United States	6.00 m	James Connolly United States	5.84 m
Triple jump	James Connolly United States	13.71 m OR	Alexandre Tuffère France	12.70 m	Ioannis Persakis Greece	12.52 m
Shot put	Robert Garrett United States	11.22 m OR	Miltiadis Gouskos Greece	11.03 m	Georgios Papasideris Greece	10.36 m
Discus throw	Robert Garrett United States	29.15 m OR	Panagiotis Paraskevopoulos Greece	28.95 m	Sotirios Versis Greece	27.78 m

Medal table


Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	9	6	2	17
2	Australia (AUS)	2	0	0	2
3	Greece (GRE)	1	3	6	10
4	Hungary (HUN)	0	1	2	3
5	France (FRA)	0	1	1	2
5	Great Britain (GBR)	0	1	1	2
7	Germany (GER)	0	1	0	1
Totals (7 entries)		12	13	12	37

Participating nations

Hungarian athletic team of 1896 Summer Olympics

A total of 63 athletes from 9 nations competed at the Athens Games.[2] Due to the nature of participation at the Games of the time not being fully through National Olympic Committees, there is a lack of clarity on which nations competed. For instance, Olympedia lists 1 athlete from Cyprus and 2 from Smyrna in counting 11 nations, but also notes the participation of "Cyprus and Smyrna as part of the Greek team".[2] Further, Chile claims to have had a competitor participate,[7] which would increase the total to 64 athletes from 10 nations, but other sources list Luis Subercaseaux as not having started.[1][2]

Australia (1)
Denmark (3)
France (5)
Germany (5)
Great Britain (5)
Greece (29)
Hungary (3)
Sweden (1)
United States (10)

References

"Athens 1896 Athletics Results". Olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
"Athletics at the 1896 Summer Olympics". Olympedia. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
"Discus Throw, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
"Marathon, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
Martin & Gynn, Running through the Ages, 22; Tarasouleas, Stamata Revithi, "Alias Melpomeni", 55; Tarasouleas, The Female Spiridon Loues, 12. However, some of the authors who believe that "Melpomene" and Revithi are the same person attribute to the latter the more favorable time of 4½ hours. E.g. Miragaya, The Female Olympian, 314, who cites DeFrantz, A. (1997). "The Changing Role of Women in the Olympic Games". 37th International Session for Young Participants – IOA Report. Ancient Olympia: International Olympic Academy.
Greek participants had been chosen through two trial national races, which had taken place on 10 [O.S. 27 February] and 24 March [O.S. 12 March]. Another athlete, Carlo Airoldi, was also not allowed to run because he was a professional (Martin–Gynn, Running through the Ages, 12, 21).
Comité Olímpico de Chile. "La Presencia de Chile en los Juegos Olimpicos" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 20 December 2006. Retrieved 28 December 2006.

International Olympic Committee results database
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.

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[IOC-1] "Athens 1896 Athletics Results". Olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 20 August 2021.

[Olympedia-2] "Athletics at the 1896 Summer Olympics". Olympedia. Retrieved 20 August 2021.

[Discus-3] "Discus Throw, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 20 August 2021.

[Marathon-4] "Marathon, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 20 August 2021.

[5] Martin & Gynn, Running through the Ages, 22; Tarasouleas, Stamata Revithi, "Alias Melpomeni", 55; Tarasouleas, The Female Spiridon Loues, 12. However, some of the authors who believe that "Melpomene" and Revithi are the same person attribute to the latter the more favorable time of 4½ hours. E.g. Miragaya, The Female Olympian, 314, who cites DeFrantz, A. (1997). "The Changing Role of Women in the Olympic Games". 37th International Session for Young Participants – IOA Report. Ancient Olympia: International Olympic Academy.

[6] Greek participants had been chosen through two trial national races, which had taken place on 10 [O.S. 27 February] and 24 March [O.S. 12 March]. Another athlete, Carlo Airoldi, was also not allowed to run because he was a professional (Martin–Gynn, Running through the Ages, 12, 21).

[Chile-7] Comité Olímpico de Chile. "La Presencia de Chile en los Juegos Olimpicos" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 20 December 2006. Retrieved 28 December 2006.