Greece at the 1896 Summer Olympics

Greece at the
1896 Summer Olympics
Greece at the; 1896 Summer Olympics
IOC code	GRE
NOC	Hellenic Olympic Committee
Website	www.hoc.gr (in Greek and English)
in Athens
Competitors	169 in 9 sports
Medals; Ranked 2nd	Gold 10 Silver 18 Bronze 19 Total 47
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
	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; 2016; 2020;
Other related appearances
	1906 Intercalated Games

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.

Medalists[]

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

Results by event[]

Aquatics[]

Swimming[]

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.

Swimmer	Event	Final
Swimmer	Event	Time	Rank
Georgios Anninos	100 m freestyle	Unknown	3–10
Efstathios Chorafas		Unknown	3–10
Alexandros Chrysafos		Unknown	3–10
Antonios Pepanos	500 m freestyle	9:57.6
Efstathios Chorafas	500 m freestyle	Unknown
Ioannis Andreou	1200 m freestyle	21:03.4
Efstathios Chorafas		Unknown	Unknown
N. Katravas		Unknown	Unknown
Ioannis Malokinis	Men's sailors 100 metre freestyle	2:20.4
Spyridon Chazapis		Unknown
Dimitrios Drivas		Unknown

Athletics[]

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	Events	Heat		Final
Athlete	Events	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Alexandros Chalkokondylis	Men's 100 metres	12.8	2 Q	12.6	5
Georgios Gennimatas	Men's 100 metres	Unknown	4/5	Did not advance
Dimitrios Golemis	Men's 800 metres	2:16.8	2 Q	2:28.0
Angelos Fetsis		Unknown	4	Did not advance
Dimitrios Tomprof		Unknown	5	Did not advance
Angelos Fetsis	Men's 1500 metres	N/A		Unknown	5
Dimitrios Golemis				Unknown	6
Konstantinos Karakatsanis				Unknown	7/8
Dimitrios Tomprof				Unknown	7/8
Athanasios Skaltsogiannis	Men's 110 metre hurdles	Unknown	3/4	Did not advance
Anastasios Andreou	Men's 110 metre hurdles	Unknown	4	Did not advance
Spiridon Louis	Men's marathon	N/A		2:58.50
Charilaos Vasilakos				3:06:03
Ioannis Vrettos				Unknown	4
Eleftherios Papasymeon				Unknown	5
Dimitrios Deligiannis				Unknown	6
Evangelos Gerakeris				Unknown	7
Stamatios Masouris				Unknown	8
Ioannis Lavrentis				Did not finish	–
Georgios Grigoriou				Did not finish	–
Ilias Kafetzis				Did not finish	–
Dimitrios Christopoulos				Did not finish	–
Spyridon Belokas				Disqualified	–

Field events

Athlete	Events	Final
Athlete	Events	Result	Rank
Alexandros Chalkokondylis	Men's long jump	5.74	4
Athanasios Skaltsogiannis	Men's long jump	Unknown	9
Ioannis Persakis	Men's triple jump	12.52
Christos Zoumis	Men's triple jump	Unknown	6–7
Evangelos Damaskos	Men's pole vault	2.60
Ioannis Theodoropoulos		2.60
Vasilios Xydas		2.40	5
Miltiadis Gouskos	Men's shot put	11.03
Georgios Papasideris	Men's shot put	10.36
Panagiotis Paraskevopoulos	Men's discus throw	28.95
Sotirios Versis		27.78
Georgios Papasideris		Unknown	5–9

Cycling[]

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

Cyclist	Event	Time/Distance	Place
Stamatios Nikolopoulos	Men's time trial	26.0 seconds
Stamatios Nikolopoulos	Men's sprint	5:00.2
Aristidis Konstantinidis	Men's 10 kilometres	Unknown	5
Georgios Kolettis	Men's 10 kilometres	Did not finish	–
Georgios Kolettis	Men's 100 kilometres	Unknown
Aristidis Konstantinidis	Men's 100 kilometres	Did not finish	–
Georgios Paraskevopoulos	Men's 12 hour race	Did not finish	–
Nikos Loverdos		Did not finish	–
A. Tryfiatis-Tripiaris		Did not finish	–
Konstantinos Konstantinou		Did not finish	–
Aristidis Konstantinidis	Men's individual road race	3:22:31
Georgios Aspiotis		Unknown	4–7
Miltiades Iatrou		Unknown	4–7
Konstantinos Konstantinou		Unknown	4–7
Georgios Paraskevopoulos		Unknown	4–7

Fencing[]

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.

Fencer	Event	Record		Touches		Round-robin	Final	Rank
Fencer	Event	Wins	Losses	For	Against	Round-robin	Final	Rank
Periklis Pierrakos-Mavromichalis	Men's foil	2	1	7	4	2nd Group A	Did not advance
Athanasios Vouros		2	1	8	4	2nd Group B	Did not advance
Konstantinos Komninos-Miliotis		1	2	5	7	3rd Group B	Did not advance	6
Georgios Balakakis		0	3	3	9	4th Group B	Did not advance	7
Ioannis Poulos		0	3	4	9	4th Group A	Did not advance	8
Leonidas Pyrgos	Man's masters foil	1	0	3	1	N/A	Won 3-1
Ioannis Georgiadis	Men's sabre	4	0	12	6	1st	N/A
Tilemachos Karakalos		3	1	11	5	2nd	N/A
Georgios Iatridis		0	4	3	12	5th	N/A	5

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[]

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.

Artistic[]

Gymnast	Event	Score	Rank
Filippos Karvelas	Parallel bars	Unknown	3–18
Ioannis Mitropoulos		Unknown	3–18
Antonios Papagiannou		Unknown	3–18
Ioannis Mitropoulos	Rings	Unknown
Petros Persakis	Rings	Unknown
Aristovoulos Petmezas	Pommel horse	Unknown	3–15
Antonios Papagiannou	Horizontal bar	Unknown	3–15
Leonidas Tsiklitiras	Horizontal bar	Unknown	3–15

Athlete	Event	Result	Rank
Nikolaos Andriakopoulos	Rope climbing	14.0
Thomas Xenakis	Rope climbing	14.0

Team	Event	Rank
Panellinios G.S.	Team parallel bars
Ethnikos G.S. Athens	Team parallel bars

Shooting[]

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.

Shooter	Event	Hits	Score	Rank
Pantelis Karasevdas	Men's 200 metre military rifle	40	2350
Panagiotis Pavlidis		38	1978
Nikolaos Trikoupis		34	1713
Anastasios Metaxas		Unknown	1701	4
Georgios Orphanidis		Unknown	1698	5
Georgios Diamantis		Unknown	1456	7
Ioannis Theofilakis		Unknown	1261	9
Alexios Fetsios		Unknown	894	11
Spiridon Stais		Unknown	845	12
Aristovoulos Petmezas		Unknown	Unknown	14–41
G. Karagiannopoulos		Unknown	Unknown	14–41
Georgios Orphanidis	Men's 300 metre free rifle, three positions	37	1583
Ioannis Frangoudis		31	1312
Anastasios Metaxas		Unknown	1102	4
Pantelis Karasevdas		Unknown	1039	5
Antelothanasis		Unknown	Unknown	6–18
Georgios Diamantis		Unknown	Unknown	6–18
Alexios Fetsios		Unknown	Unknown	6–18
Karakatsanis		Unknown	Unknown	6–18
Hatzidakis		Unknown	Unknown	6–18
Nikolaos Levidis		Unknown	Unknown	6–18
Zinon Michailidis		Unknown	Unknown	6–18
Moustakopoulos		Unknown	Unknown	6–18
Panagiotis Pavlidis		Unknown	Unknown	6–18
Alexandros Theofilakis		Unknown	Unknown	6–18
Ioannis Theofilakis		Unknown	Unknown	6–18
Nikolaos Trikoupis		Unknown	Unknown	6–18
Leonidas Langakis		Did not finish
Ioannis Vourakis		Did not finish
Nikolaos Morakis	Men's 25 metre military pistol	205	Unknown
Ioannis Frangoudis		Unknown	Unknown	4
Zinon Michailidis		Unknown	Unknown	6–13
Georgios Orphanidis		Unknown	Unknown	6–13
Pantazidis		Unknown	Unknown	6–13
Patsouris		Unknown	Unknown	6–13
Panagiotis Pavlidis		Unknown	Unknown	6–13
Aristovoulos Petmezas		Unknown	Unknown	6–13
Platis		Unknown	Unknown	6–13
Vavis		Unknown	Unknown	6–13
Pantelis Karasevdas		Did not finish
Sanidis		Did not finish
Ioannis Frangoudis	Men's 25 metre rapid fire pistol	23	344
Georgios Orphanidis	Men's 25 metre rapid fire pistol	20	248
Ioannis Frangoudis	Men's 30 metre free pistol	Unknown	Unknown
Leonidas Morakis		Unknown	Unknown	4
Georgios Orphanidis		Unknown	Unknown	5

Tennis[]

Greece 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.

Athlete	Event	First round	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Finals
Athlete	Event	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Dionysios Kasdaglis	Men's singles	Defert (FRA) W	K. Akratopoulos (GRE) W	Tapavica (HUN) W	Boland (GBR) L 3-6, 1-6
Konstantinos Paspatis		Robertson (GBR) W	A. Akratopoulos (GRE) W	Boland (GBR) L	Did not advance
Aristidis Akratopoulos		Flack (AUS) W	Paspatis (GRE) L	Did not advance		5
Evangelos Rallis		Petrokokkinos (GRE) W	Boland (GBR) L	Did not advance		5
Konstantinos Akratopoulos		Bye	Kasdaglis (GRE) L	Did not advance		5
Demetrios Petrokokkinos		Rallis (GRE) L	Did not advance			8
Dimitris Frangopoulos		Tapavica (HUN) L	Did not advance			8
Dionysios Kasdaglis Demetrios Petrokokkinos	Men's doubles	n/a	Paspatis/ Rallis (GRE) W	Flack (AUS)/ Robertson (GBR) W	Boland (GBR)/ Traun (GER) L 7-5, 4-6, 1-6
Aristidis Akratopoulos Konstantinos Akratopoulos		n/a	Boland (GBR)/ Traun (GER) L	Did not advance
Konstantinos Paspatis Evangelos Rallis		n/a	Kasdaglis/ Petrokokkinos (GRE) L	Did not advance

Opponent nation	Wins	Losses	Percent
Australia	1	0	1.000
France	1	0	1.000
Hungary	1	1	.500
Great Britain	1	3	.250
Mixed team	1	2	.250

Total international	5	6	.454
Greece	4	4	.500

Total	9	10	.474

Weightlifting[]

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.

Lifter	Event	Weight	Rank
Alexandros Nikolopoulos	One hand lift	57.0
Sotirios Versis	One hand lift	40.0	4
Sotirios Versis	Two hand lift	90.0
Georgios Papasideris	Two hand lift	90.0	4

Wrestling[]

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, 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.

Wrestler	Event	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final
Wrestler	Event	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Georgios Tsitas	Greco-Roman	Bye	Christopoulos (GRE) W	Schuhmann (GER) L
Stephanos Christopoulos	Greco-Roman	Tapavica (HUN) W	Tsitas (GRE) L	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.

[Contestants-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.

[1]