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
IOC codeGRE
NOCHellenic Olympic Committee
Websitewww.hoc.gr (in Greek and English)
in Athens,  Greece
April 6, 1896 – April 15, 1896
Competitors169 in 9 sports and 39 events
Medals
Ranked 2nd
Gold
10
Silver
18
Bronze
19
Total
47
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
Other related appearances
1906 Intercalated Games

Medalists

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The following competitors won medals at the games. In the discipline sections below, the medalists' names are bolded.

Medal Name Sport Event Date
  Gold Spyridon Louis Athletics Men's marathon April 10
  Gold Aristidis Konstantinidis Cycling Men's road race April 12
  Gold Leonidas Pyrgos Fencing Men's masters foil April 7
  Gold Ioannis Georgiadis Fencing Men's sabre April 9
  Gold Ioannis Mitropoulos Gymnastics Men's rings April 9
  Gold Nikolaos Andriakopoulos Gymnastics Men's rope climbing April 10
  Gold Pantelis Karasevdas Shooting Men's 200 m military rifle April 9
  Gold Georgios Orphanidis Shooting Men's 300 m free rifle, three positions April 12
  Gold Ioannis Frangoudis Shooting Men's 25 m rapid fire pistol April 11
  Gold Ioannis Malokinis Swimming Men's sailors 100 m freestyle April 11
  Silver Charilaos Vasilakos Athletics Men's marathon April 10
  Silver Miltiadis Gouskos Athletics Men's shot put April 7
  Silver Panagiotis Paraskevopoulos Athletics Men's discus throw April 6
  Silver Stamatios Nikolopoulos Cycling Men's sprint April 11
  Silver Stamatios Nikolopoulos Cycling Men's time trial April 11
  Silver Georgios Kolettis Cycling Men's 100 km April 8
  Silver Tilemachos Karakalos Fencing Men's sabre April 9
  Silver Nikolaos Andriakopoulos
Spyridon Athanasopoulos
Petros Persakis
Thomas Xenakis
Gymnastics Men's team parallel bars April 9
  Silver Thomas Xenakis Gymnastics Men's rope climbing April 10
  Silver Pavlos Pavlidis Shooting Men's 200 m military rifle April 9
  Silver Ioannis Frangoudis Shooting Men's 300 m free rifle, three positions April 12
  Silver Georgios Orphanidis Shooting Men's 25 m rapid fire pistol April 11
  Silver Antonios Pepanos Swimming Men's 500 m freestyle April 11
  Silver Ioannis Andreou Swimming Men's 1200 m freestyle April 11
  Silver Spyridon Chazapis Swimming Men's sailors 100 m freestyle April 11
  Silver Dionysios Kasdaglis Tennis Men's singles April 11
  Silver Dionysios Kasdaglis
Demetrios Petrokokkinos
Tennis Men's doubles April 11
  Silver Georgios Tsitas Wrestling Men's Greco-Roman April 11
  Bronze Dimitrios Golemis Athletics Men's 800 m April 9
  Bronze Evangelos Damaskos Athletics Men's pole vault April 10
  Bronze Ioannis Theodoropoulos Athletics Men's pole vault April 10
  Bronze Ioannis Persakis Athletics Men's triple jump April 6
  Bronze Georgios Papasideris Athletics Men's shot put April 7
  Bronze Sotirios Versis Athletics Men's discus throw April 6
  Bronze Periklis Pierrakos-Mavromichalis Fencing Men's foil April 7
  Bronze Athanasios Vouros Fencing Men's foil April 7
  Bronze Ioannis Chrysafis
Filippos Karvelas
Dimitrios Loundras
Ioannis Mitropoulos
Gymnastics Men's team parallel bars April 9
  Bronze Petros Persakis Gymnastics Men's rings April 9
  Bronze Nikolaos Trikoupis Shooting Men's 200 m military rifle April 9
  Bronze Nikolaos Morakis Shooting Men's 25 m military pistol April 10
  Bronze Ioannis Frangoudis Shooting Men's 30 m free pistol April 11
  Bronze Efstathios Chorafas Swimming Men's 500 m freestyle April 11
  Bronze Dimitrios Drivas Swimming Men's sailors 100 m freestyle April 11
  Bronze Konstantinos Paspatis Tennis Men's singles April 10
  Bronze Alexandros Nikolopoulos Weightlifting Men's one hand lift April 7
  Bronze Sotirios Versis Weightlifting Men's two hand lift April 7
  Bronze Stephanos Christopoulos Wrestling Men's Greco-Roman April 11
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

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The following competitors won multiple medals at the 1896 Olympic Games.

Name Medal Sport Event
Ioannis Frangoudis   Gold
  Silver
  Bronze
Shooting Men's 25 metre rapid fire pistol
Men's 300 metre free rifle
Men's 30 metre pistol
Nikolaos Andriakopoulos   Gold
  Silver
Gymnastics Men's rope climbing
Men's team parallel bars
Georgios Orphanidis   Gold
  Silver
Shooting Men's 300 metre free rifle
Men's 25 metre rapid fire pistol
Ioannis Mitropoulos   Gold
  Bronze
Gymnastics Men's rings
Men's team parallel bars
Dimitrios Kasdaglis   Silver
  Silver
Tennis Men's singles
Men's doubles
Stamatios Nikolopoulos   Silver
  Silver
Cycling Men's sprint
Men's track time trial
Thomas Xenakis   Silver
  Silver
Gymnastics Men's team parallel bars
Men's rope climbing
Petros Persakis   Silver
  Bronze
Gymnastics Men's team parallel bars
Men's rings
Sotirios Versis   Bronze
  Bronze
Athletics
Weightlifting
Men's discus throw
Men's two hand lift

Competitors

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Athletics

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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 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

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Greece had entries in all six cycling events, winning one and taking second place in three more.

Track

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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

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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

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Group of French and Greek fencers at 1896 Summer Olympics

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

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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

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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.

Athlete Event Final
Score Rank
Georgios Diamantis Men's 200 m military rifle 1456 7
Alexios Fetsios 894 11
G. Karagiannopoulos Unknown 14-41
Pantelis Karasevdas 2350  
Anastasios Metaxas 1701 4
Georgios Orphanidis 1698 5
Panagiotis Pavlidis 1978  
Aristovoulos Petmezas Unknown 14-41
Spiridon Stais 845 12
Ioannis Theofilakis 1261 9
Nikolaos Trikoupis 1713  
22 others, names unknown Unknown 14-41
Antelothanasis Men's 300 m free rifle Unknown 6-18
Georgios Diamantis Unknown 6-18
Alexios Fetsios Unknown 6-18
Ioannis Frangoudis 1312  
Hatzidakis Unknown 6-18
Karakatsanis Unknown 6-18
Pantelis Karasevdas 1039 5
Leon Langakis DNF
Nikolaos Levidis Unknown 6-18
Anastasios Metaxas 1102 4
Xenon Mikhailidis Unknown 6-18
Moustakopoulos Unknown 6-18
Georgios Orphanidis 1583  
Panagiotis Pavlidis Unknown 6-18
Alexandros Theofilakis Unknown 6-18
Ioannis Theofilakis Unknown 6-18
Nikolaos Trikoupis Unknown 6-18
Ioannis Vourakis DNF
Pantelis Karasevdas Men's 25 m military pistol DNF
Xenon Mikhailidis Unknown 6-13
Nikolaos Morakis 205  
Georgios Orphanidis Unknown 6-13
Pantazidis Unknown 6-13
Patsouris Unknown 6-13
Panagiotis Pavlidis Unknown 6-13
Aristovoulos Petmezas Unknown 6-13
Ioannis Frangoudis Unknown 4
Platis Unknown 6-13
Sanidis DNF
Vavis Unknown 6-13
Ioannis Frangoudis Men's 25 m rapid fire pistol 344  
Georgios Orphanidis 249  
Ioannis Frangoudis Men's 30 m pistol Unknown  
Nikolaos Morakis Unknown 4
Georgios Orphanidis Unknown 5

Swimming

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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

Tennis

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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

Weightlifting

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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

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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 after Christopoulos retired due to a shoulder injury; Christopoulous received the bronze medal. Tsitas then faced Carl 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
 

Notes

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  1. ^ 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

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  • 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.