United States at the 1896 Summer Olympics explained

Noc:USA
Nocname:United States Olympic Committee
Games:Summer Olympics
Year:1896
Flagcaption:Flag of the United States
Location:Athens, Greece
Date:April 15, 1896
Competitors:14
Sports:3
Events:16
Rank:1
Gold:11
Silver:7
Bronze:2
Appearances:auto
See also:1906 Intercalated Games

Fourteen competitors from the United States competed in three sports at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The Americans were the most successful athletes in terms of gold medals, beating host nation Greece, 11 to 10, despite fielding only 14 competitors compared to an estimated 169 Greek entrants. However, the Greeks' 46 total medals dwarfed the Americans' 20.

The United States team had 27 entries in 16 events, with 20 of the 27 resulting in top-three finishes.

Most of the American competitors were students at Harvard University or Princeton University or members of the Boston Athletic Association. The team trained at The Pennington School, in Pennington, New Jersey, while preparing for the first modern Olympic Games.

Medalists

Of the 14 Americans at the Athens Games, 12 won medals. Charles Waldstein, a shooter, and Gardner Williams, a swimmer, were the two who did not win any medals.The following competitors won medals at the games. In the discipline sections below, the medalists' names are bolded.

Medals by sport
SportTotal
Athletics96217
Shooting2103
Totalstyle=background:gold11style=background:silver7style=background:#c96220

Multiple medalists

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

NameMedalSportEvent



AthleticsMen's shot put
Men's discus throw
Men's high jump
Men's long jump

AthleticsMen's 100 m
Men's 400 m

AthleticsMen's high jump
Men's long jump


AthleticsMen's triple jump
Men's high jump
Men's long jump

ShootingMen's 30 metre pistol
Men's 25 metre military pistol

Competitors

| width=78% align=left valign=top |The following is the list of number of competitors in the Games.

width=180Sportwidth=55Menwidth=55Womenwidth=55Total
Athletics10 0 10
Shooting3 0 3
Swimming1 0 1
Total 14 0 14

| width="22%" align="left" valign="top" |

Medals by day
DayDateTotal
1April 6bgcolor=F7F6A8 2bgcolor=DCE5E5 0bgcolor=FFDAB9 02
2April 7bgcolor=F7F6A8 3bgcolor=DCE5E5 3bgcolor=FFDAB9 17
3April 8bgcolor=F7F6A8 0bgcolor=DCE5E5 0bgcolor=FFDAB9 00
4April 9bgcolor=F7F6A8 0bgcolor=DCE5E5 0bgcolor=FFDAB9 00
5April 10bgcolor=F7F6A8 5bgcolor=DCE5E5 4bgcolor=FFDAB9 110
6April 11bgcolor=F7F6A8 1bgcolor=DCE5E5 0bgcolor=FFDAB9 01
7April 12bgcolor=F7F6A8 2bgcolor=DCE5E5 1bgcolor=FFDAB9 03
8April 13bgcolor=F7F6A8 0bgcolor=DCE5E5 0bgcolor=FFDAB9 00
Total117220

Athletics

See main article: article and Athletics at the 1896 Summer Olympics.

The United States squad of 11, which featured only one national champion, won nine gold medals in the twelve athletics events, with contributions from six different athletes. Six silver medals and two bronze medals also went to the Americans in athletics.

Track & road events

AthleteEventHeatFinal
TimeRankTimeRank
Thomas Burkealign=left rowspan=5100 m11.8 OR1 Q12.0
Thomas Curtis12.21 Q
Ralph DerrDid not advance
Francis Lane12.21 Q12.6
Charles VanoniDid not advance
Thomas Burkealign=left rowspan=2400 m58.41 Q54.2 OR
Herbert Jamison56.81 Q55.2
Thomas Burke800 mDid not advance
Arthur Blake1500 m4:33.6
James Brendan Connollyalign=left rowspan=5110 m hurdlesDid not advance
Thomas Curtis18.01 Q17.6 OR
William HoytUnknown2
Fred LordDid not advance
Charles VanoniDid not advance
Arthur BlakeMarathon

Field events

AthleteEventFinal
DistancePosition
Ellery Harding Clarkalign=left rowspan=4Men's high jump1.81 OR
James Brendan Connolly1.65
John Stanley Edwards
Robert Garrett1.65
William Hoytalign=left rowspan=3Men's pole vault3.30 OR
Albert Tyler3.20
Charles Vanoni
Ellery Harding Clarkalign=left rowspan=5Men's long jump6.35 OR
James Brendan Connolly6.11
Thomas Curtis
Ralph Derr
Robert Garrett6.18
James Brendan ConnollyMen's triple jump13.71 OR
Ellery Harding Clarkalign=left rowspan=3Men's shot putUnknown5-7
Robert Garrett11.22 OR
Charles Vanoni
Robert Garrettalign=left rowspan=2Men's discus throw29.15 WR
Charles Vanoni

Cycling

See main article: Cycling at the 1896 Summer Olympics.

Road

AthleteEventTimeRank
A. Johnsonalign=left rowspan=2Men's road race
B. MacDonald

Fencing

See main article: Fencing at the 1896 Summer Olympics.

AthleteEventRound 1Final
RankOpposition
Score		Rank
Fred HellenMen's foil
Albertson Van Zo PostMen's sabre

Shooting

See main article: article and Shooting at the 1896 Summer Olympics.

The Paine brothers contested only two events, taking the top two spots in the event in which they both competed, the military pistol. Sumner was the only one of the two to enter the free pistol, which he won. Waldstein was the third member of the American shooting contingent, competing in the military rifle event.

AthleteEventFinal
ScoreRank
Charles WaldsteinMen's 200 m military rifleUnknown14-41
John Painealign=left rowspan=2Men's 25 m military pistol442
Sumner Paine380
Sumner PaineMen's 30 m pistol442

Swimming

See main article: Swimming at the 1896 Summer Olympics.

Williams competed in two swimming events, with his results currently being unknown (lost in the years since).

AthleteEventFinal
TimeRank
Gardner Williams100 m freestyleUnknown3-10
Gardner Williams1200 m freestyleUnknown3-8

References

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "United States at the 1896 Summer Olympics".

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