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
4	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	Alvin Kraenzlein United States	7.0 =OR	Walter Tewksbury United States	7.1	Stan Rowley Australia	7.2
100 metres	Frank Jarvis United States	11.0	Walter Tewksbury United States	11.1	Stan Rowley Australia	11.2
200 metres	Walter Tewksbury United States	22.2 OR	Norman Pritchard India	22.8	Stan Rowley Australia	22.9
400 metres	Maxie Long United States	49.4 OR	William Holland United States	49.6	Ernst Schultz Denmark	51.5
800 metres	Alfred Tysoe Great Britain	2:01.2	John Cregan United States	2:03.0	David Hall United States	2:03.8
1500 metres	Charles Bennett Great Britain	4:06.2 WR	Henri Deloge France	4:06.6	John Bray United States	4:07.2
Marathon	Michel Théato France ^[a]	2:59:45	Émile Champion France	3:04:17	Ernst Fast Sweden	3:37:14
110 metres hurdles	Alvin Kraenzlein United States	15.4 OR	John McLean United States	15.5	Frederick Moloney United States	15.6
200 metres hurdles	Alvin Kraenzlein United States	25.4	Norman Pritchard India	26.0	Walter Tewksbury United States	26.1
400 metres hurdles	Walter Tewksbury United States	57.6	Henri Tauzin France	58.3	George Orton Canada	58.8
2500 m steeplechase	George Orton Canada	7:34.4	Sidney Robinson Great Britain	7:38.0	Jacques Chastanié France	7:52.4
4000 m steeplechase	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	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	Irving Baxter United States	1.90 m OR	Patrick Leahy Great Britain	1.78 m	Lajos Gönczy Hungary	1.75 m
Pole vault	Irving Baxter United States	3.30 m =OR	Meredith Colket United States	3.25 m	Carl Albert Andersen Norway	3.20 m
Long jump	Alvin Kraenzlein United States	7.185 m OR	Myer Prinstein United States	7.175 m	Patrick Leahy Great Britain	6.950 m
Triple jump	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	Ray Ewry United States	1.655 m	Irving Baxter United States	1.525 m	Lewis Sheldon United States	1.500 m
Standing long jump	Ray Ewry United States	3.30 m	Irving Baxter United States	3.135 m	Émile Torchebœuf France	3.03 m
Standing triple jump	Ray Ewry United States	10.58 m OR	Irving Baxter United States	9.95 m	Robert Garrett United States	9.50 m
Shot put	Richard Sheldon United States	14.10 m OR	Josiah McCracken United States	12.85 m	Robert Garrett United States	12.37 m
Discus throw	Rudolf Bauer Hungary	36.04 m OR	František Janda-Suk Bohemia	35.14 m	Richard Sheldon United States	34.60 m
Hammer throw	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.

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

↑ 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

↑ 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.
1 2 An additional gold medal was won by a mixed team composed of four athletes from Great Britain and one from Australia.
↑ "Paris 1900 Medal Table". Olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 16 June 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
↑ "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 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.

[5] 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]

[KLWT-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.

[Mixed-2] 1 2 An additional gold medal was won by a mixed team composed of four athletes from Great Britain and one from Australia.

[oly2-3] "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.

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Events at the 1900 Summer Olympics (Paris)
Official	Archery Athletics Basque pelota Cricket Croquet Cycling Equestrian Fencing Football Golf Gymnastics Polo Rowing Rugby union Sailing Shooting Swimming Tennis Tug of war Water polo
Unofficial	Angling Ballooning Baseball Boules Cannon shooting Fire fighting Kite flying Life saving Longue paume Military exercise Motor racing Motorcycle racing Pigeon racing Water motorsports