1900 Summer Olympics

Games of the II Olympiad, celebrated in Paris (France) in 1900

The 1900 Summer Olympics (French: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1900), officially called the Games of the II Olympiad, were held in Paris, France. The games went from 14 May to 28 October 1900.[1] The games were part of the 1900 Exposition Universelle (Paris World's Fair). The sports events were not well planned. The games were not thought to be a success.[2] In total, there were 1,226 athletes. These athletes were played in 19 different sports.[3][note1] 720 of the 997 athletes were from France. France won the most gold, silver, and bronze awards. U.S won the 2nd most awards. Britain won the 3rd most awards.[4]

Games of the II Olympiad
Poster for fencing at the 1900 Summer Olympics
Host cityParis, France
Nations26[note1]
Athletes1226[note1]
Events95 in 19 sports (21 disciplines) [note1]
Opening14 May 1900
Closing28 October 1900
StadiumVélodrome de Vincennes
Athens 1896 St. Louis 1904
Denmark/Sweden v France tug of war at the 1900 games

This was the first Olympic Games where women competed. The sailor Hélène de Pourtalès was the first woman to win an Olympic game.[5]

The 1900 Olympic Games were also very unusual. There were many events that were only at this Olympics. These events were angling,[6] motor racing,[7] ballooning,[8] cricket,[9] croquet,[10] Basque pelota,[11] 200m swimming obstacle race and underwater swimming.[12] This was also the only Olympic Games to use live animals as a target in shooting.[13]

Sports

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Weightlifting and wrestling were not in the 1900 Olympics, even though they were in the 1896 Summer Olympics. However, 12 new sports were added.[a] Croquet was the only sport where only French players played. The number of events is in parentheses.

  1. Swimming and water polo are together in aquatics.

Venues

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There were 14 venues (or places) at the 1900 Summer Olympics.

 
 
Croix-Catelan Stadium
 
Place de Breteuil
 
Seine: rowing, water polo, swimming
A map of Paris with the venues marked. Satory is further west and not in the map. Compiègne and Le Havre are not shown.
Map of France with Olympic venues marked.
Venue Sports Capacity Ref.
7th arrondissement (Place de Breteuil) Equestrian Not listed. [14]
Bois de Boulogne Croquet, Polo, Tug of war Not listed. [15][16][17]
Bois de Vincennes Archery Not listed. [18]
Boulogne-Billancourt Shooting Not listed. [14]
Compiègne Golf Not listed. [19]
Croix-Catelan Stadium Athletics Not listed. [19]
Le Havre Sailing Not listed. [14]
Meulan-en-Yvelines Sailing Not listed. [20]
Neuilly-sur-Seine Basque pelota Not listed. [21]
Puteaux Tennis Not listed. [22]
Satory Shooting Not listed. [14]
Seine Rowing, Swimming, and Water polo Not listed. [23]
Tuileries Garden Fencing Not listed. [14]
Vélodrome de Vincennes Cricket, Cycling, Football, Gymnastics, and Rugby union Not listed. [24]

Participating nations

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There were 24 nations that sent athletes to compete at the Paris games.[25]

Medals

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Gilt silver, silver, and bronze medals for the 1900 Olympic Games

The 1900 Olympics is the only Olympic Games that had rectangle medals. These medals were made by Frédérique Vernon.[26] Gilt silver medals were given to 1st place in shooting, lifesaving, automobile racing and gymnastics.[27][28] 2nd place silver medals were given in shooting, rowing, yachting, tennis, gymnastics, sabre, fencing, equestrian and athletics.[27] 3rd place bronze medals were given in gymnastics, firefighting and shooting.[28][27] In many sports, there were no medals given. Many of the prizes were cups or other trophies.[29]: 9  After the Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee gave the athletes gold, silver, and bronze medals to the athletes who were in 1st, 2nd or 3rd-place.[29]

These are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1900 Games.[30][29]

Key   Host nation (France)

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  France (FRA)*273837102
2  United States (USA)19141548
3  Great Britain (GBR)158932
4  Mixed team (ZZX)85619
5  Belgium (BEL)67417
6  Switzerland (SUI)6219
7  Germany (GER)4329
8  Italy (ITA)3205
9  Australia (AUS)2035
10  Denmark (DEN)1326
Totals (10 entries)918279252
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  • a b c d e f The IOC used to say that there were 85 events, 24 nations, and 997 athletes.[31] The Olympic historian and author, Bill Mallon,[29]: 25–28  said that there 95 events. There were some events that had different rules. In some events, amateurs could not compete. In some events, not every country was allowed to compete. According to Mallon, these should still be Olympic events. In July 2021, the IOC said there was 95 events now, instead of 85. Because of this, they also put the number of countries as 26 and athletes as 1226.[32] The IOC now says the 1900 Summer Olympics had 95 events, 26 nations, and 1226 athletes.[3][33]

References

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Countries at the 1900 Olympics
  1. "Olympics Site Closed | Olympics at Sports-Reference.com". www.sports-reference.com. Retrieved 2024-08-07.
  2. Zarnowski, C. Frank. "A Look at Olympic Costs," Archived 2018-12-25 at the Wayback Machine Citius, Altius, Fortius (US). Summer 1992, Vol. 1, Issue 1, p. 19 [4 of 17 PDF]; retrieved 2012-7-24.
  3. 3.0 3.1 "Paris 1900 Summer Olympics". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  4. "1900 Paris Medal Tally". Archived from the original on April 26, 2019. Retrieved April 26, 2019.
  5. "Paris facts". Paris Digest. 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-09-08. Retrieved 2018-09-19.
  6. Mérillon, Daniel (1901a). Rapports : Concours Internationaux d'exercices physiques et de sports. Vol. 1. Paris: Imprimerie nationale. T1.
  7. Journal of Olympic History, Special Issue – December 2008, The Official Publication of the International Society of Olympic Historians, p. 8, by Karl Lennartz, Tony Bijkerk and Volker Kluge
  8. Journal of Olympic History, Special Issue – December 2008, The Official Publication of the International Society of Olympic Historians, p. 13, by Karl Lennartz, Tony Bijkerk and Volker Kluge
  9. Journal of Olympic History, Special Issue – December 2008, The Official Publication of the International Society of Olympic Historians, p. 32, by Karl Lennartz, Tony Bijkerk and Volker Kluge
  10. Journal of Olympic History, Special Issue – December 2008, The Official Publication of the International Society of Olympic Historians, p. 33, by Karl Lennartz, Tony Bijkerk and Volker Kluge
  11. Journal of Olympic History, Special Issue – December 2008, The Official Publication of the International Society of Olympic Historians, p. 52, by Karl Lennartz, Tony Bijkerk and Volker Kluge
  12. Journal of Olympic History, Special Issue – December 2008, The Official Publication of the International Society of Olympic Historians, p. 77, by Karl Lennartz, Tony Bijkerk and Volker Kluge
  13. Carmichael, Emma (July 27, 2012). "Gawker's Guide to the Olympic Sports You're Pretty Sure Don't Exist: Shooting". Gawker. Archived from the original on May 6, 2013.
  14. 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 1900 Summer Olympics official report. Archived 2008-05-28 at the Wayback Machine p. 16. Accessed 14 November 2010. (in French)
  15. Sports-reference.com Summer Olympics Paris 28 June 1900 croquet mixed singles one-ball results. Archived 28 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 14 November 2010.
  16. Sports-reference.com Summer Olympics Paris 28 May-2 June 1900 men's polo results. Archived 1 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 20 February 2011.
  17. Sports-reference.com Summer Olympics Paris 16 July 1900 tug-of-war men's results. Archived 28 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 14 November 2010.
  18. Sports-reference.com Summer Olympics Paris 27 May – 14 August 1900 men's archery au chapelet 33 m results. Archived 1 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 14 November 2010.
  19. 19.0 19.1 1900 Summer Olympics official report. Archived 2008-05-28 at the Wayback Machine p. 15. Accessed 14 November 2010. (in French)
  20. Sports-reference.com Summer Olympics Paris 20 May 1900 sailing mixed open results. Archived 3 July 2017 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 14 November 2010.
  21. Sports-reference.com Summer Olympics Paris 14 June 1900 men's basque pelota two-teams results. Archived 3 March 2018 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 14 November 2010.
  22. Sports-reference.com Summer Olympics Paris 6-11 July 1900 tennis men's singles results. Archived 1 July 2017 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 14 November 2010.
  23. 1900 Summer Olympics official report. Archived 2008-05-28 at the Wayback Machine pp. 17-18. Accessed 14 November 2010. (in French)
  24. 1900 Summer Olympics official report. Archived 2008-05-28 at the Wayback Machine pp. 15-16. Accessed 14 November 2010. (in French)
  25. Taking part in the games for the first time were Argentina, Belgium, Bohemia, Canada, Cuba, India, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Russia, Spain.
  26. "Paris 1900 The Medals". International Olympic Committee. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  27. 27.0 27.1 27.2 Greensfelder, Jim; Vorontsov, Oleg; Lally, Jim (1998). Olympic Medals: a reference guide. GVL Enterprises. pp. 9–10.
  28. 28.0 28.1 "Olympic Summer Games Medals from Athens 1896 to Tokyo 2020" (PDF). Olympic Studies Centre. Olympic Studies Centre. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 September 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  29. 29.0 29.1 29.2 29.3 Mallon, Bill (1998). The 1900 Olympic Games, Results for All Competitors in All Events, with Commentary. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-4064-1.
  30. "Paris 1900 - Medal Table". Olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Select "Paris 1900", select "Go to medal table" to arrive at "Paris 1900 Medal Table"
  31. "Event Results". Archived from the original on 24 February 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  32. "Paris 1900 Results". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  33. "Factsheet – The Games of the Olympiad" (PDF). International Olympic Committee. 16 November 2021. p. 1. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 July 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2022.

Other websites

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Summer Olympics
Preceded by
Athens
II Olympiad
Paris

1900
Succeeded by
St. Louis