1896 - Athens

The 1896 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece April 6th - 15th, 1896 Mascot - none 14 countries, 311 athletes - 230 Greek (no women) 9 sports, 43 events Opening - King George Ist of Greece Torch lit by - none Assigned during the 1st IOC Session 1894 Standing proud: Spyridon Louis, the first and symbolic marathon champion of the modern Olympic era. The modest shepherd was revered in Greece, and went on to feature as flag-bearer to the Greek delegation in 1936. THE RENAISSANCE OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES: During the 19th century many initiatives were taken to introduce the practice of sport into the educational system, to create sports associations and organize large-scale competitions. Here and there, and naturally first in Greece, attempts were also made to restore the Olympic Games. But it was Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin who succeeded in putting this great idea into practice. Convinced of the educational virtues of sport and full of enthusiasm, he put everything in place to revive the Olympic Games. Pierre de Coubertin was fascinated in particular by the scale and beauty of the archaeological discoveries made in Greece in 1880. In June 1894, in his capacity as general secretary of the Union of French Societies of Athletic Sports, he convened a congress at the Sorbonne in Paris. The eighth item on the agenda of this meeting was the study of the "possibility of reviving the Olympic Games". Another article suggested the creation of an international Olympic committee responsible for implementing this project. At 31, Pierre de Coubertin, having fought for a long time for the introduction of sport at schools, saw the triumph of his second great idea. Coubertin had initially proposed that the first Games should be held in his home city of Paris in 1900. However, the first Games took place in Greece in 1896. Given that Olympia was remote and undeveloped, the Games were awarded to Athens. THE REBIRTH OF THE GAMES The first Session of the IOC was held in Paris on 23-24 June 1894. It was during the first Session that the city of Athens was selected for the Games of the I Olympiad. The inauguration of the first Games of the modern era, opened by King George I at the foot of the Acropolis on April 5, 1896, was a huge relief for baron Pierre de Coubertin. Greece's instability and economic stature, due to numerous conflicts, proved almost insurmountable obstacles. However, a wealthy Greek architect from Alexandria, George Averoff, donated a gift of one million drachma and in a matter of 18 months a superb white marble stadium, able to hold 60,000 people, was constructed. Many of the events, including the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, were held in a reconstructed Panathinaiko Stadium, which was originally built in 330 B.C. Baron de Coubertin's dream of reinventing the Games was one he had coveted since 1892 - two years later the official announcement was made and Athens chosen as the site. Baron Pierre de Coubertin invited countries from all over the world to attend the first of the new Olympics in Athens. The revival of the ancient Olympics attracted athletes from 14 nations, with the largest delegations coming from Greece, Germany and France. Officially it was announced that 311 athletes - 230 Greeks - took part in the Games, 81 of them from 12 other countries on 3 continents (Australia, Denmark, Hungary, Austria, France, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Sweden, Chile, Germany and the United States), but the total figure was distorted by the number who competed in more than one event. Later estimates have given the true total of competitors as close to 175. Nine sports and 43 events were included in the program between April 6 - 15: athletics, cycling, fencing, gymnastics, wrestling, swimming, weightlifting, tennis and shooting (rowing and sailing were also planned but were canceled because of bad weather). The Games lasted 10 days, the shortest Olympics of the modern era. However, one event, the 100m freestyle for sailors, was not at all international. In fact, it was restricted to members of the Greek navy who competed in the open sea. Most of the foreign athletes paid their own way, and there were no standards of eligibility. Some of the competitors, in fact, were tourists who just happened to be visiting Greece at the time and decided to enter on the spur of the moment. Germany and France had the largest representation, with 19 athletes each, followed by the United States with 14. There were no national teams as such, but the Boston Athletic Association brought a contingent of athletes, as did the German Gymnastics Society, the Union of French Athletic Associations, and the British Athletic Association. There were no gold medals in 1896 and only the first two finishers in each event received prizes: A silver medal and a crown of olive branches for first place, a bronze medal and crown of laurel for second. On April 6, 1896, the American James Connolly won the triple jump to become the first Olympic champion in more than 1500 years. An American Harvard law student, James Brendan Connolly, became the first Olympic champion of the modern era on the first day of the Games, winning the triple jump with a leap of 13.71 meters. Karl Schumann of Germany finished in the top four in four different events, Paul Masson of France won three of the six cycling events and Hungary's Alfred Hajos won two of the four swimming races, while the U. S. dominated track and field, winning nine of twelve events. Yet the most impressive story of the Games was one involving a marathon-winning shepherd from the Athens area: Spiridon Louys. Emulating the journey in 490 BC of the soldier Philippides, who ran 40km between the village of marathon and the olympic stadium in Athens to announce the victory of Greece over Persia, Louys ran the distance in 2 hours, 58 minutes and 50 seconds. Louys' triumph sent the country wild. It was just one of many eventual victories for the host country, who finished with 50 places of honor (given for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places). Short of being a true success, Athens proved that the rebirth of the Olympic Games was a worthwhile project, and one which could be expanded in the future. It was simply a question of giving it a push in the right direction. Although the competition was not of the highest quality, the 1896 Olympics were considered a great success, in large part because of the enthusiasm of the Greek spectators. At the closing banquet, King George of Greece suggested that Athens should become the permanent home of the Olympic Games, but Coubertin and the IOC stuck to the original idea of holding the 1900 games in Paris. The very first modern Olympic Games opened in the first week of April 1896. Since the Greek government had been unable to fund construction of a stadium, a wealthy Greek architect, Georgios Averoff, donated one million drachmas (over $100,000) to restore the Panathenaic Stadium, originally built in 330 BCE, with white marble for the Olympic Games. Since the Games were not well publicized internationally, contestants were not nationally chosen but rather came individually and at their own expense. Some contestants were tourists who happened to be in the area during the Games. Athletes wore their athletic club uniform rather than a national team one. Pole vaulting, sprints, shot put, weight lifting, swimming, cycling, target shooting, tennis, marathon and gymnastics were all events at the first Olympics. The swimming events were held in the Bay of Zea in the Aegean Sea. Gold medalist, Alfred Hoyos Guttmann described it: "I won ahead of the others with a big lead, but my greatest struggle was against the towering twelve-foot waves and the terribly cold water."* Approximately 300 athletes participated, representing thirteen countries. ATHENS 1896 GOLD MEDAL WINNERS 43 Men, 0 Women Events Athletics 100m: Tom Burke, USA 400m: Tom Burke, USA 800m: Edwin Flack, Australia 1500m: Edwin Flack, Australia 110m Hurdles: Tom Curtis, USA Marathon: Spiridon Louis, Greece Discus Throw: Robert Garrett, USA High Jump: Ellery Clark, USA Long Jump: Ellery Clark, USA Pole Vault: William Hoyt, USA Shot Put: Robert Garrett, USA Triple Jump: James Connolly, USA Cycling Road Race: Aristidis Konstantinidis, Greece Sprint: Paul Masson, France 10km Track Race: Paul Masson, France 100km Track Race: Leon Flameng, France One-lap Race: Paul Masson, France 12-hr Race: Adolf Schmal, Austria Fencing Foil Masters: Leon Pyrgos, Greece Foil: Eugene-Henri Gravelotte, France Sabre: Ioannis Georgiadis, Greece Gymnastics Horizontal Bar: Hermann Weingartner, Germany HB Team: Germany Parallel Bars: Alfred Flatow, Germany PB Team: Germany Pommel Horse: Louis Zutter, Switzerland Rings: Ioannis Mitropoulos, Greece Rope Climbing: Nikolaos Andriakopoulos, Greece Vault: Carl Schuhmann, Germany Shooting 200m Free Rifle: Pantelis Karasevdas, Greece 25m Military Revolver: John Paine, USA 25m Rapid Fire Pistol: Ioannis Phrangoudis, GRE 300m Free Rifle, 3-pos: Georgios Orphanidis, GRE 50m Free Pistol: Sumner Paine, USA Swimming 100m Freestyle: Alfred Hajos, Hungary 100m Freestyle for Sailors: Ioannis Malokinis, GRE 500m Freestyle: Paul Neumann, Austria 1200m Freestyle: Alfred Hajos, Hungary Tennis Singles: John Boland, GBR Doubles: Fritz Traun, GER & John Boland, GBR Weightlifting One-arm Lifts: Launceston Elliott, Britain Two-arm Lifts: Viggo Jensen, Denmark Wrestling, Greco-Roman Open: Carl Schuhmann, Germany