1896 Athens Summer Games
311 Athletes, 13 Countries, 43 Events
The first modern Olympic Games in Athens, Greece attracted 241 men
from 14 nations. The American team was made up of 12 men, all from
the Ivy League either Columbia, Harvard or Princeton. Harvard,
reluctant to send its own team, advised its competitors to travel
under the banner of the Boston Athletic Association, the group that
today administers the Boston Marathon. Princeton allowed its team
to go under the university's banner as a Princeton classics
professor, William Sloane, was part of the
international committee led by Baron Pierre de
Coubertin that sought to revive the ancient Games.
The entire team traveled together on a steamship, with the
exception of brothers John B. Paine (Harvard '92)
and Sumner Paine (Harvard '90). John Paine left
separately for Paris (the other athletes were headed to Naples) in
an effort to recruit Sumner to enter the shooting competitions with
him. It should be noted that Robert Garrett, Jr.
(Princeton '97) paid the way to Greece for his fellow Princetonians
Herbert Jamison '97, Francis Lane
'97, and Albert Tyler '97.
The Games turned out to be successful for almost all of the
Leaguers. James B. Connolly (Harvard '96) won gold
in the triple jump, silver in the high jump, and bronze in the long
jump. The gold made him the first person to be crowned Olympic
champion since the ancient Greek Games over 1,500 years prior.
Garrett won gold in the discus and shot put, and finished right
behind Connolly in the high jump and long jump. He had practiced
the discus with one he fashioned from history books regarding the
ancient Greek Games. But when Garrett reached Athens and found the
true weight of the disc to be much lighter, he beat the favored
Greeks to the dismay of the crowd. Columbia's Thomas P.
Curtis claimed gold in the hurdles.
Please note, while we refer to athletes being awarded gold,
silver and bronze medals at the 1896 Games for recordkeeping
purposes, firstplace finishers were actually given a silver medal,
an olive branch and a diploma. Runnersup received a bronze medal, a
crown of laurel and a diploma.
| Name |
School |
Sport |
| Charles Arthur Blake |
Harvard University |
Men's Athletics |
| Thomas E. Burke |
Harvard University |
Men's Athletics |
| Ellery H. Clark |
Harvard University |
Men's Athletics |
| James B. Connolly |
Harvard University |
Men's Athletics |
| William Welles Hoyt |
Harvard University |
Men's Athletics |
| John B. Paine |
Harvard University |
Men's Shooting |
| Sumner Paine |
Harvard University |
Men's Shooting |
| Robert Garrett, Jr. |
Princeton University |
Men's Athletics |
| Herbert Jamison |
Princeton University |
Men's Athletics |
| Francis Lane |
Princeton University |
Men's Athletics |
| Albert Tyler |
Princeton University |
Men's Athletics |
| Thomas P. Curtis |
Columbia University |
Men's Athletics |