Thirteen athletes from France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

competed in six sports at the 1896 Summer Olympics

1896 Summer Olympics

The 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad, was a multi-sport event celebrated in Athens, Greece, from April 6 to April 15, 1896. It was the first international Olympic Games held in the Modern era...

. France won the fourth-most gold medal

Gold medal

A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...

s with 5 and the fourth-most total medals with 11. Cycling was the sport in which the French competitors had the most success, as they completely dominated the field. The French team had 27 entries in 18 events, winning 11 medals.

Gold

• Léon Flameng
  Léon Flameng
  Léon Flameng was a French cyclist. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.Flameng competed in the 333 metres, 2 kilometres, 10 kilometres and 100 kilometres races. His best finish was in the longest of the races, as he finished the 100 kilometres with a time of 3:08:19.2 to win the...
  
   - cycling, 100 kilometres
• Eugène-Henri Gravelotte
  Eugène-Henri Gravelotte
  Eugène-Henri Gravelotte was a French fencer. He was the first modern Olympic champion in foil, winning the event at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens....
  
   - fencing, amateur foil
• Paul Masson
  Paul Masson (cyclist)
  Paul Masson was a French cyclist. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.Masson competed in three different events, winning each one....
  
   - cycling, 333 metres
• Paul Masson - cycling, 2 kilometres
• Paul Masson - cycling, 10 kilometres

Silver

• Henri Callot
  Henri Callot
  Henri Callot was a French fencer. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.Callot won the silver medal in the amateur foil event. He went undefeated in his preliminary round group, defeating Henri Delaborde, Perikles Pierrakos-Mavromichalis, and Ioannis Poulos...
  
   - fencing, amateur foil
• Léon Flameng
  Léon Flameng
  Léon Flameng was a French cyclist. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.Flameng competed in the 333 metres, 2 kilometres, 10 kilometres and 100 kilometres races. His best finish was in the longest of the races, as he finished the 100 kilometres with a time of 3:08:19.2 to win the...
  
   - cycling, 10 kilometres
• Jean Maurice Perronet
  Jean Maurice Perronet
  Joanni Perronet was a French fencer. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, winning a silver medal....
  
   - fencing, masters foil
• Alexandre Tuffèri
  Alexandre Tuffèri
  Athens, GreeceAlexandre Tuffère or Tuffèri was a French–Greek athlete, who was born and lived in Athens...
  
   - athletics, triple jump

Bronze

• Léon Flameng - cycling, 2 kilometres
• Albin Lermusiaux
  Albin Lermusiaux
  Albin Lermusiaux was a French athlete and shooter. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.Lermusiaux won his preliminary heat of the 800 metres with a time of 2:16.6. This qualified him to compete in the final, but Lermusiaux chose not to do so.In the 1,500 metres, which was run in a...
  
   - athletics, 1,500 metres

Athletics

France's six athletes won two medals in athletics

Athletics (track and field)

Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...

.

Event	Place	Athlete	Heat	Final
100 metres	–	Alphonse Grisel Alphonse Grisel Alphonse Grisel was a French athlete and gymnast. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.Grisel placed fourth in his preliminary heat of the 100 metres and did not advance to the final.He also competed in the 400 metres...	Unknown	Did not advance
400 metres	–	Alphonse Grisel	Unknown	Did not advance
		Frantz Reichel Frantz Reichel Frantz Reichel was a French athlete. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens as track and field athlete and at 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris as rugby union footballer....	Unknown
800 metres	–	Albin Lermusiaux Albin Lermusiaux Albin Lermusiaux was a French athlete and shooter. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.Lermusiaux won his preliminary heat of the 800 metres with a time of 2:16.6. This qualified him to compete in the final, but Lermusiaux chose not to do so.In the 1,500 metres, which was run in a...	2:16.6	Did not start
	–	Georges de la Nézière Georges de la Nézière Georges de la Nézière was a French athlete. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.Nézière competed in the 800 metres. He placed third in his preliminary heat and did not advance to the final....	Unknown	Did not advance
1500 metres	3rd	Albin Lermusiaux	No heats	4:37.0
110 metre hurdles	–	Frantz Reichel	Unknown	Did not start
Marathon	9th	Sokratis Lagoudakis Sokratis Lagoudakis Sokratis Lagoudakis was a Greek long-distance runner who competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens....	No heats	Unknown
	–	Albin Lermusaiux		Did not finish

Event	Place	Athlete	Best mark
Long jump	–	Alphonse Grisel	Unknown
		Alexandre Tuffèri Alexandre Tuffèri Athens, GreeceAlexandre Tuffère or Tuffèri was a French–Greek athlete, who was born and lived in Athens...	Unknown
Triple jump	2nd	Alexandre Tuffèri	12.70 metres
Discus throw	–	Alphonse Grisel	Unknown

Cycling

France dominated the cycling

Cycling

Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...

 events, taking 4 of the 6 gold medal

Gold medal

A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...

s. Three were won by Paul Masson

Paul Masson (cyclist)

Paul Masson was a French cyclist. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.Masson competed in three different events, winning each one....

 who won every event he entered, with Léon Flameng

Léon Flameng

Léon Flameng was a French cyclist. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.Flameng competed in the 333 metres, 2 kilometres, 10 kilometres and 100 kilometres races. His best finish was in the longest of the races, as he finished the 100 kilometres with a time of 3:08:19.2 to win the...

 adding the fourth as well as a silver and a bronze. One of the two won each event that a Frenchman contested; the two gold medals won by other countries were in competitions that Masson and Flameng did not enter.

Event	Place	Cyclist	Time/Distance
333 metres	1st	Paul Masson Paul Masson (cyclist) Paul Masson was a French cyclist. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.Masson competed in three different events, winning each one....	24.0 seconds
	5th	Léon Flameng Léon Flameng Léon Flameng was a French cyclist. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.Flameng competed in the 333 metres, 2 kilometres, 10 kilometres and 100 kilometres races. His best finish was in the longest of the races, as he finished the 100 kilometres with a time of 3:08:19.2 to win the...	27.0 seconds
2 kilometres	1st	Paul Masson	4:58.2
	3rd	Léon Flameng	Unknown
10 kilometres	1st	Paul Masson	17:54.2
	3rd	Léon Flameng	17:54.2
100 kilometres	1st	Léon Flameng	3:08:19.2

Fencing

The French fencers were held in high regard prior to the Games; Gravelotte and Callot validated those expectations in the amateur foil competition. Each went undefeated in their pool, advancing to face each other in the final. Gravelotte won the first-to-3 bout. Surprisingly, however, Perronet lost to the Greek

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 Leonidas Pyrgos

Leonidas Pyrgos

Leonidas Pyrgos was a Greek fencer.-Career:Pyrgos was the first Greek Olympic medallist in the history of the modern Olympic Games, winning his fencing event of the 1896 Summer Olympics on 7 April 1896...

 in the only match of the masters competition.

Event	Place	Fencer	Record		Touches		Round-robin	Final
			Wins	Losses	For	Against
Foil	1st	Eugène-Henri Gravelotte Eugène-Henri Gravelotte Eugène-Henri Gravelotte was a French fencer. He was the first modern Olympic champion in foil, winning the event at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens....	4	0	12	7	1st Group B	Won 3-2
	2nd	Henri Callot Henri Callot Henri Callot was a French fencer. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.Callot won the silver medal in the amateur foil event. He went undefeated in his preliminary round group, defeating Henri Delaborde, Perikles Pierrakos-Mavromichalis, and Ioannis Poulos...	3	1	11	7	1st Group A	Lost 3-2
	5th	Henri Delaborde Henri Delaborde (fencer) Henri Delaborde was a French fencer. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens and the 1900 Summer Olympics.In 1896, Delaborde competed in the amateur foil event. He placed third of four in his preliminary group after winning one bout, against Ioannis Poulos, and losing the other two, to...	1	2	5	8	3rd Group A	Did not advance
Masters foil	2nd	Jean Maurice Perronet Jean Maurice Perronet Joanni Perronet was a French fencer. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, winning a silver medal....	0	1	1	3	None held	Lost 3-1

Opponent nation	Wins	Losses	Percent
Greece Greece at the 1896 Summer Olympics Greece was the host nation of the 1896 Summer Olympics held in Athens. The number of Greek contestants is commonly cited as 169, but as many as 176 Greeks contested events in all nine sports. The Greeks were by far the most successful nation in terms of total medals with 46, 26 more than the...	6	2	.750
Total international	6	2	.750
France	2	2	.500
Total	8	4	.667

Gymnastics

Grisel competed in the parallel bars in the gymnastics program. The competitions had no formal scoring, the judges merely selecting the winner and runner-up. Grisel was neither in his competition.

Event	Place	Gymnast
Parallel bars	–	Alphonse Grisel Alphonse Grisel Alphonse Grisel was a French athlete and gymnast. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.Grisel placed fourth in his preliminary heat of the 100 metres and did not advance to the final.He also competed in the 400 metres...

Shooting

Lermusiaux entered the military rifle event in the shooting program. His score and placing are unknown.

Event	Place	Shooter	Score	Hits
Military rifle	–	Albin Lermusiaux Albin Lermusiaux Albin Lermusiaux was a French athlete and shooter. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.Lermusiaux won his preliminary heat of the 800 metres with a time of 2:16.6. This qualified him to compete in the final, but Lermusiaux chose not to do so.In the 1,500 metres, which was run in a...	Unknown

Tennis

Only the last name of the French tennis player in 1896 is known. He was defeated in the first round of the singles tournament.

Event	Place	Player(s)	Round 1	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final
Singles	8th	Defert Defert Defert was a French tennis player. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.Defert was defeated in the first round of the singles tournament by Dionysios Kasdaglis of Egypt, placing eighth in a tie with all of the other players defeated in their first matches. He did not compete in the...	Lost	Did not advance

Opponent nation	Wins	Losses	Percent
Greece Greece at the 1896 Summer Olympics Greece was the host nation of the 1896 Summer Olympics held in Athens. The number of Greek contestants is commonly cited as 169, but as many as 176 Greeks contested events in all nine sports. The Greeks were by far the most successful nation in terms of total medals with 46, 26 more than the...	0	1	.000
Total	0	1	.000