Georgios Tsitas was a Greek

Greece

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

 wrestler. He competed 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...

 in Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

.

In the first round of the wrestling competition, held in a roughly Greco-Roman format, Tsitas had a bye to guarantee a top three finish before he even had a match. The semifinal pitted Tsitas against fellow Greek Stephanos Christopoulos

Stephanos Christopoulos

Stephanos Christopoulos was a Greek wrestler. He was a member of Gymnastiki Etaireia Patron, that merged in 1923 with Panachaikos Gymnastikos syllogos to become Panachaiki Gymnastiki Enosi.Christopoulos competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens...

. Tsitas won the match by throwing Christopoulos. In the final, Tsitas wrestled with Carl Schuhmann

Carl Schuhmann

Carl Schuhmann was a German athlete, who was born in Münster and won four Olympic titles in gymnastics and wrestling at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, becoming the most successful athlete at the inaugural Olympics of the modern era...

 of Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, an exceptional gymnast

Gymnastics

Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...

, for 40 minutes before the match was postponed due to darkness. Tsitas did not last long the following day, being defeated to finish in second place.