Athletics at the 1900 Summer Olympics

Athletics at the Games of the II Olympiad
Venue	Croix-Catelan Stadium
Dates	14–22 July 1900
Competitors	117 from 16 nations
«1896	1904»

At the 1900 Summer Olympics, there were athletics events. In total, there were 117 athletes. These 117 athletes were from 15 different nations. There were 68 medals given out. 23 of these were gold medals. 23 of the medals were silver medals. 22 of the medals were bronze medals. In many countries, the media talked about the athletics events. They ignored the other events.

The 23 events are the events that are said to be events by the International Olympic Committee. Some events used a handicap system, where some people were given advantages. Other events were only open to professional athletes. The IOC does not count these events.^[1]

Competitions were on 14 July, 15 July, 16 July, 19 July, and 22 July. One of the competition days was on a Sunday. Many American athletes protested because of this. Some Americans did not compete in the finals.

The competing conditions were worse than in 1896. There was no track for the Paris Games. The runners ran in a grass field with trees. The course was also 500 metres. Modern tracks are usually 400 metres long.

Medal summary

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	16	13	10	39
2	Great Britain (GBR)[2]	3	3	2	8
3	France (FRA)	1	4	2	7
4	Canada (CAN)	1	0	1	2
	Hungary (HUN)	1	0	1	2
6	Mixed team (ZZX)	1	0	0	1
7	India (IND)	0	2	0	2
8	Bohemia (BOH)	0	1	0	1
9	Australia (AUS)[2]	0	0	3	3
10	Denmark (DEN)	0	0	1	1
	Norway (NOR)	0	0	1	1
	Sweden (SWE)	0	0	1	1
Totals (12 entries)		23	23	22	68

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
60 metres details	Alvin Kraenzlein  United States	7.0 =OR	Walter Tewksbury  United States	7.1	Stan Rowley  Australia	7.2
100 metres details	Frank Jarvis  United States	11.0	Walter Tewksbury  United States	11.1	Stan Rowley  Australia	11.2
200 metres details	Walter Tewksbury  United States	22.2 OR	Norman Pritchard  India	22.8	Stan Rowley  Australia	22.9
400 metres details	Maxie Long  United States	49.4 OR	William Holland  United States	49.6	Ernst Schultz  Denmark	51.5
800 metres details	Alfred Tysoe  Great Britain	2:01.2	John Cregan  United States	2:03.0	David Hall  United States	2:03.8
1500 metres details	Charles Bennett  Great Britain	4:06.2 WR	Henri Deloge  France	4:06.6	John Bray  United States	4:07.2
Marathon details	Michel Théato  France [a]	2:59:45	Émile Champion  France	3:04:17	Ernst Fast  Sweden	3:37:14
110 metres hurdles details	Alvin Kraenzlein  United States	15.4 OR	John McLean  United States	15.5	Frederick Moloney  United States	15.6
200 metres hurdles details	Alvin Kraenzlein  United States	25.4	Norman Pritchard  India	26.0	Walter Tewksbury  United States	26.1
400 metres hurdles details	Walter Tewksbury  United States	57.6	Henri Tauzin  France	58.3	George Orton  Canada	58.8
2500 m steeplechase details	George Orton  Canada	7:34.4	Sidney Robinson  Great Britain	7:38.0	Jacques Chastanié  France	7:52.4
4000 m steeplechase details	John Rimmer  Great Britain	12:58.4	Charles Bennett  Great Britain	12:58.6	Sidney Robinson  Great Britain	12:58.8
5000 m team race details	Mixed team (ZZX)  Charles Bennett (GBR)  John Rimmer (GBR)  Sidney Robinson (GBR)  Alfred Tysoe (GBR)  Stan Rowley (AUS)	26 pts	France (FRA) Henri Deloge Jacques Chastanié André Castanet Michel Champoudry Gaston Ragueneau	29 pts	only two teams entered
High jump details	Irving Baxter  United States	1.90 m OR	Patrick Leahy  Great Britain	1.78 m	Lajos Gönczy  Hungary	1.75 m
Pole vault details	Irving Baxter  United States	3.30 m =OR	Meredith Colket  United States	3.25 m	Carl Albert Andersen  Norway	3.20 m
Long jump details	Alvin Kraenzlein  United States	7.185 m OR	Myer Prinstein  United States	7.175 m	Patrick Leahy  Great Britain	6.950 m
Triple jump details	Myer Prinstein  United States	14.47 m OR	James Connolly  United States	13.97 m	Lewis Sheldon  United States	13.64 m
Standing high jump details	Ray Ewry  United States	1.655 m	Irving Baxter  United States	1.525 m	Lewis Sheldon  United States	1.500 m
Standing long jump details	Ray Ewry  United States	3.30 m	Irving Baxter  United States	3.135 m	Émile Torchebœuf  France	3.03 m
Standing triple jump details	Ray Ewry  United States	10.58 m OR	Irving Baxter  United States	9.95 m	Robert Garrett  United States	9.50 m
Shot put details	Richard Sheldon  United States	14.10 m OR	Josiah McCracken  United States	12.85 m	Robert Garrett  United States	12.37 m
Discus throw details	Rudolf Bauer  Hungary	36.04 m OR	František Janda-Suk  Bohemia	35.14 m	Richard Sheldon  United States	34.60 m
Hammer throw details	John Flanagan  United States	51.01 m OR	Truxtun Hare  United States	46.26 m	Josiah McCracken  United States	43.58 m

These medals were given afterwards by the International Olympic Committee. At the time, winners were given silver medals.

Finish of the 800m

Participating nations

•  Australia (1)
•  Austria (1)
•  Bohemia (4)
•  Canada (2)
•  Denmark (4)
•  France (23)
•  Germany (6)
•  Great Britain (9)
•  Greece (2)
•  Hungary (9)
•  India (1)
•  Italy (2)
•  Norway (2)
•  Sweden (8)
•  United States (43)

Notes

1. In 2021, the IOC changed the medals to show nationality of the athletes.^[3] This led some to believe that Luxembourg had officially recovered this Olympic title. This change in the IOC online data was later reversed.^[4]

References

1. Lennartz, Karl; Teutenberg, Walter (1995). Olympische Spiele 1900 in Paris. Kassel, Germany: Agon-Sportverlag. p. 147. ISBN 3-928562-20-7. In many works, it is read that the IOC later met to decide which events were Olympic and which were not. This is not correct and no decision has ever been made. No discussion of this item can be found in the account of any Session.
2. An additional gold medal was won by a mixed team composed of four athletes from Great Britain and one from Australia.
3. "Paris 1900 Medal Table". Olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 16 June 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
4. "Michel Théato IOC webpage". Olympics.com. International Olympic Committee.

References

• International Olympic Committee.
• De Wael, Herman. Herman's Full Olympians: "Athletics 1900". Accessed 18 March 2006. Available electronically at [1] Archived 2006-02-11 at the Wayback Machine.
• Mallon, Bill (1998). The 1900 Olympic Games, Results for All Competitors in All Events, with Commentary. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. ISBN 0-7864-0378-0.