1896 Summer Olympics

Organization

The return of the Olympic Games to Greece was well-received by the Greek public, media, and royal family. The Crown Prince conferred their patronage on the games. However, the country had financial troubles and was in political turmoil. The country's prime minister frequently alternated between Charilaos Trikoupis and Theodoros Deligiannis during the last years of the 19th century. This instability caused Trikoupis and Stephanos Dragoumis, the president of the Zappas Olympic Committee, which had attempted to organise a series of national Olympiads, to believe that Greece could not host the event. In late 1894, the organising committee under Stephanos Skouloudis presented a report that the cost of the Games would be three times higher than originally estimated by Coubertin. They concluded the Games could not be held and offered their resignation. The total cost of the Games was 3,740,000 gold drachmas (equivalent to €37,417,000 in 2025).

With the prospect of reviving the Olympic Games in doubt, Coubertin and Vikelas commenced a campaign to increase the Olympic movement's popularity. On 7 January 1895, Vikelas announced that Crown Prince Constantine would assume the presidency of the organising committee. His first responsibility was to raise the funds necessary to host the Games. He relied on the patriotism of the Greek people to motivate them to provide the required finances. Constantine's enthusiasm increased contributions from the Greek public, raising 330,000 drachmas (equivalent to €3,246,000 in 2025). A special set of postage stamps was commissioned; the sale of which raised 400,000 drachmas (equivalent to €3,935,000 in 2025). Ticket sales added 200,000 drachmas (equivalent to €1,967,000 in 2025). At the request of Constantine, businessman George Averoff agreed to pay for the restoration of the Panathenaic Stadium. Averoff would donate 920,000 drachmas (equivalent to €9,050,000 in 2025) to this project. As a tribute to his generosity, a statue of Averoff was constructed and unveiled on 5 April 1896 outside the stadium.

The IOC's first regulation, voted on in 1894, was to allow only amateur athletes to participate in the Olympic Games. The various contests were thus held under amateur regulations, except for fencing matches. The rules and regulations were not uniform, so the Organising Committee chose among the codes of the various national athletic associations. The jury, the referees and the game director bore the same names as in antiquity (Ephor, Helanodic and Alitarc). Prince George acted as final referee; according to Coubertin, "his presence gave weight and authority to the decisions of the ephors". Women could not compete at the 1896 Summer Olympics because Coubertin felt that their inclusion would be "impractical, uninteresting, unaesthetic and incorrect".

Venues

Seven venues were used for the 1896 Summer Olympics. Panathenaic Stadium was the main venue, hosting four of the nine sports contested. The town of Marathon hosted the marathon event and the individual road race events. Fencing was held at the Zappeion, sport shooting at Kallithea, and tennis at the Athens Lawn Tennis Club. Swimming was held in the Bay of Zea; it was selected because the organizers of the Games wanted to avoid spending money on constructing a special-purpose swimming venue.

Four of the 1896 venues were reused as competition venues for the 2004 Games. The velodrome would be renovated into a football stadium in the 1960s and was known as Karaiskakis Stadium. This venue was renovated in 2003 for use as a football venue for the 2004 Games. During the 2004 Games, Panathinaiko Stadium hosted the archery competitions and was the finish line for the athletic marathon event. The city of Marathon itself served as the starting point for both marathon events during the 2004 Games. The Zappeion served as the first home of the organizing committee (ATHOC) for the 2004 Games from 1998 to 1999, and served as the press center for non-accredited media during those Games.

Calendar

Note: Silver medals were awarded to the winners, with copper medals given to the runners-up, and no prizes were given to those who came in 3rd place in any events.

Opening ceremony

On Easter Monday 6 April (25 March according to the Julian calendar used in Greece until 1923) the games of the First Olympiad were officially opened. The Panathenaic Stadium was filled with between 16,000 and 80,000 spectators, including King George I of Greece, his wife Olga, and other members of the royal family. Most of the competing athletes were aligned on the infield, grouped by nation. After a speech by the president of the organising committee, Crown Prince Constantine, his father officially opened the Games with the words:

"I declare the opening of the first international Olympic Games in Athens. Long live the Nation. Long live the Greek people."

Afterwards, nine bands and 150 choir singers performed an Olympic Hymn, composed by Spyridon Samaras, with words by poet Kostis Palamas.

Events

The first announcements regarding the sporting events to be held featured sports like equestrian and cricket, but these plans were not finalised, and these sports did not make the final program for the Games. Football is sometimes listed as having been an exhibition or demonstration sport, although whether a football match actually occurred is disputed. Rowing and sailing events were cancelled on the planned days of competition: sailing due to a lack of special boats in Greece and no foreign entries, and rowing due to poor weather.

The 1896 Summer Olympics programme featured 9 sports encompassing 10 disciplines and 43 events. The number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses.

• Athletics (12)
• Cycling
  • Road (1)
  • Track (5)
• Fencing (3)
• Gymnastics (8)
• Shooting (5)
• Swimming (4)
• Tennis (2)
• Weightlifting (2)
• Wrestling (1)

Athletics

The athletics events had the most international field of any of the sports. The major highlight was the marathon, held for the first time in international competition. Spyridon Louis, a previously unrecognised water carrier, won the event to become the only Greek athletics champion and a national hero. Although Greece had been favoured to win the discus and the shot put, the best Greek athletes finished second to American Robert Garrett in both events.

No world records were set, as few top international competitors had elected to compete and the curves of the track were very tight, making fast times in the running events virtually impossible. Thomas Burke of the United States won the 100-meter race in 12.0 seconds and the 400-meter race in 54.2 seconds. Burke was the only one who used the "crouch start" (putting his knee on soil), confusing the jury.

Chile claims one athlete, Luis Subercaseaux, who competed for the nation at the 1896 Summer Olympics. Subercaseaux's results are not listed in the official report, though that report typically includes only winners and Subercaseaux won no medals. He was entered to compete in the 100m, 400m and 800m events but is usually listed as a no show. An appraisal of a photo of series 2 of the 100 meters sprint, performed by facial recognition experts of the Chilean forensic police, concluded that Subercaseaux was one of the participants.

The day after the official marathon, Stamata Revithi ran the 40-kilometer course in 5 hours 30 minutes, finishing outside Panathinaiko Stadium. Some authors, who believe that "Melpomene" and Revithi are the same person, attribute to the latter the more favorable time of 4+1⁄2 hours. She was denied entry into the official race as the 1896 Olympics excluded women from competition.

Cycling

The cycling competitions used the rules of the International Cycling Association. The newly built Neo Phaliron Velodrome hosted the track cycling events. Only one road event was held, a race from Athens to Marathon and back (87 kilometres).

In the track events, the best cyclist was Frenchman Paul Masson, who won the one lap time trial, the sprint event, and the 10,000 meters. In the 100 kilometres event, Masson entered as a pacemaker for his compatriot Léon Flameng. Flameng won the event, after a fall and after stopping to wait for his Greek opponent Georgios Kolettis to fix a mechanical problem. The Austrian fencer Adolf Schmal won the 12-hour race, which was completed by only two cyclists, while the road race event was won by Aristidis Konstantinidis.

Fencing

The fencing events were held in the Zappeion, which, built with money Evangelis Zappas had given to revive the ancient Olympic Games, had never seen any athletic contests before. Unlike other sports (in which only amateurs were allowed to take part at the Olympics), professionals were authorised to compete in fencing, though in a separate event. These masters professionals were considered gentlemen athletes, just like the amateurs.

Four events were scheduled, but the épée event was cancelled for unknown reasons. The foil event was won by a Frenchman, Eugène-Henri Gravelotte, who beat his countryman, Henri Callot, in the final. The other two events were won by Greek fencers: Ioannis Georgiadis won the sabre event, and Leonidas Pyrgos won the masters foil, becoming the first Greek Olympic champion in the modern era.

Gymnastics

The gymnastics competition was carried out on the infield of the Panathinaiko Stadium. Germany sent an 11-man team, which won five of the eight events, including both team events: in the team event on the horizontal bar, the German team was the only entry.

Three Germans added individual titles: Hermann Weingärtner won the horizontal bar event, Alfred Flatow won the parallel bars, and Carl Schuhmann, who also won the wrestling event, won the vault. Louis Zutter, a Swiss gymnast, won the pommel horse, while Greeks Ioannis Mitropoulos and Nikolaos Andriakopoulos were victorious in the rings and rope climbing events, respectively.

Sailing and rowing

A regatta of sailing boats was on the program of the Games of the First Olympiad for 31 March 1896 (Julian calendar). The event was cancelled: the official English report blamed a lack of specialty boats had not been provided while the German version also cited a lack of foreign competitors.

Rowing races were scheduled for the next day, 1 April 1896 (Julian). Poor weather caused the event to be postponed to 3 pm and German Berthold Küttner stated that he and Adolf Jäger had lined up for the start of the double sculls, the first event to take place. The event was further postponed to the next day, but the German team still completed the event in the bad weather: they were presented with the winners medal upon the completion of their row. The next day, the event was formally cancelled when the weather worsened. The International Olympic Committee does not recognize Küttner's recollection of the events.

Shooting

Held at a range at Kallithea, the shooting competition consisted of five events—two using a rifle and three with a pistol. The first event, the military rifle, was won by Pantelis Karasevdas, the only competitor to hit the target with all of his shots. The second event, for military pistols, was dominated by two American brothers: John and Sumner Paine. They became the first siblings to finish first and second in the same event. To avoid embarrassing their hosts, the brothers decided that John would withdraw from the free pistol event. Sumner Paine won that event, becoming the first relative of an Olympic champion to become Olympic champion himself.

The Paine brothers did not compete in the 25-meter pistol event, as the event judges determined that their weapons were not of the required calibre; Ioannis Phrangoudis won the event. The final event, the free rifle, could not be completed due to darkness and was finalised the next morning, with Georgios Orphanidis winning the competition.

Swimming

The swimming competition was held in the open sea because the organizers had refused to spend the money necessary for a specially constructed stadium. Nearly 20,000 spectators lined the Bay of Zea off the Piraeus coast to watch the events. The water in the bay was cold, and the competitors suffered during their races. There were three open events (men's 100-metre freestyle, men's 500-metre freestyle, and men's 1200 metre freestyle), in addition to a special event open only to Greek sailors, all of which were held on the same day (11 April).

For Alfréd Hajós of Hungary, this meant he could only compete in two of the events, as they were held too close together, which made it impossible for him to adequately recuperate. Nevertheless, he won the two events in which he swam, the 100 and 1200 meter freestyle. Hajós later became one of only two Olympians to win a medal in both the athletic and artistic competitions, when he won a silver medal for architecture in 1924. The 500-meter freestyle was won by Austrian swimmer Paul Neumann, who defeated his opponents by more than a minute and a half.

Tennis

Although tennis was already a major sport by the end of the 19th century, none of the top players turned up for the tournament in Athens. The competition was held at the courts of the Athens Lawn Tennis Club, and the infield of the velodrome used for the cycling events. John Pius Boland, who won the event, had been entered in the competition by a fellow-student of his at Oxford; the Greek, Konstantinos Manos. As a member of the Athens Lawn Tennis sub-committee, Manos had been trying, with the assistance of Boland, to recruit competitors for the Athens Games from among the sporting circles of Oxford University. In the first round, Boland defeated Friedrich Traun, a promising tennis player from Hamburg, who had been eliminated in the 100-meter sprint competition. Boland and Traun decided to team up for the doubles event, in which they reached the final and defeated their Greek opponents after losing the first set.

Weightlifting

The sport of weightlifting was still young in 1896, and the rules differed from those in use today. Competitions were held outdoors, in the infield of the main stadium, and there were no weight limits. The first event was similar in style to what is now known as the "clean and jerk". Two competitors stood out: Briton Launceston Elliot and Viggo Jensen of Denmark. Both of them lifted the same weight, but the jury, with Prince George as the chairman, ruled that Jensen had done so in a better style. The British delegation, unfamiliar with this tie-breaking rule, lodged a protest. The lifters were eventually allowed to make further attempts, but neither lifter improved, and Jensen was declared the champion.

Elliot got his revenge in the one hand lift event, which was held immediately after the two-handed one. Jensen had been slightly injured during his last two-handed attempt and was no match for Elliot, who won the competition easily. The Greek audience was charmed by the British victor, whom they considered very attractive. A curious incident occurred during the weightlifting event: a servant was ordered to remove the weights, which appeared to be a difficult task for him. Prince George came to his assistance; he picked up the weight and threw it a considerable distance with ease, to the delight of the crowd.

Wrestling

No weight classes existed for the wrestling competition, held in the Panathenaic Stadium, which meant that there would only be one winner among competitors of all sizes. The rules used were similar to modern Greco-Roman wrestling, although there was no time limit, and not all leg holds were forbidden (in contrast to current rules).

Apart from the two Greek contestants, all the competitors had previously been active in other sports. Weightlifting champion Launceston Elliot faced gymnastics champion Carl Schuhmann. The latter won and advanced into the final, where he met Georgios Tsitas, who had previously defeated Stephanos Christopoulos. Darkness forced the final match to be suspended after 40 minutes; it was continued the following day, when Schuhmann needed only fifteen minutes to finish the bout.

Closing ceremony

On the morning of Sunday 12 April (or 31 March, according to the Julian calendar then used in Greece), King George organised a banquet for officials and athletes (even though some competitions had not yet been held). During his speech, he made clear that, as far as he was concerned, the Olympics should be held in Athens permanently. The official closing ceremony was held the following Wednesday after being postponed from Tuesday due to rain. Again, the royal family attended the ceremony, which was opened by the national anthem of Greece and an ode composed in ancient Greek by George S. Robertson, a British athlete and scholar.

Afterwards, the king awarded prizes to the winners. Unlike today, the first-place winners received a silver medal, an olive branch and a diploma, while runners-up received a copper medal, a laurel branch and a diploma. Third place winners did not receive a prize.

Some winners also received additional prizes. Spyridon Louis received a cup from Michel Bréal, a friend of Coubertin, who had conceived the marathon event. Louis then led the medalists on a lap of honour around the stadium, while the Olympic Hymn was played again. The King then formally announced that the first Olympiad was at an end and left the Stadium, while the band played the Greek national hymn and the crowd cheered.

Like the Greek king, many others supported the idea of holding the next Games in Athens; most of the American competitors signed a letter to the Crown Prince expressing this wish. Coubertin, however, was heavily opposed to this idea, as he envisioned international rotation as one of the cornerstones of the modern Olympics. According to his wish, the next Games were held in Paris, although they would be somewhat overshadowed by the concurrent Universal Exposition.

Participating nations

The concept of national teams was not a major part of the Olympic movement until the Intercalated Games 10 years later, though many sources list the nationality of competitors in 1896 and give medal counts. There are significant conflicts with regard to which nations competed. The International Olympic Committee gives a figure of 14, but does not list them. Different sources provide differing lists of nations; some exclude countries like Chile and Bulgaria, but the IOC lists competitors from both countries. Egypt is also sometimes included due to the participation of Dimitrios Kasdaglis; however, the IOC classifies him as a Greek athlete. Belgium and Russia had entered the names of competitors, but no athletes from these countries competed.

Number of athletes by National Olympic Committees

National Olympic Committees did not yet exist. Over 65% of all athletes were Greek.

Medal count

Ten of the fourteen participating nations earned medals, in addition to two medals won by mixed teams (teams made up of athletes from multiple nations). The IOC has retroactively assigned gold, silver and bronze medals to the three best placed athletes in each event to comport with more recent traditions. In this regard, five of the bronze medalists at the Games are unknown: two in swimming and three in gymnastics.

The United States won the most gold medals (11), while host nation Greece won the most medals overall (47), as well as the most silver (18) and bronze (19) medals, finishing with one fewer gold medal than the United States.

* Host nation (Greece)

Podium sweeps