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the early Olympic champions
Some Olympic Trivia Q&A
301 events at Athens, up 1 from Sydney's total.
1805 competitors won medals at Athens (1021 male and 784
female), 15 fewer than in Sydney.
A total of 120 athletes won more than one medal at Athens.
Most, oldest, youngest medal winners at Athens
Germany's canoeist Birgit Fischer (now aged 42) and Romanian rower Elisabeta Lipa (39) become only the third and fourth person to have won an Olympic medal at SIX Olympic Games. The other two are Hungarian fencer Aladár Gerevich (1932-1960), and German rider Hans-Günter Winkler (1956-1976). Fischer's tally of 12 medals might have been even greater had it not been for the 1984 boycott by East Germany, the country she first represented in 1980.
The most medals (7) were won by US swimmer Michael Phelps - 5
Gold and 2 Bronze
Natalie Coughlin (Swimming, USA) was second with 5 medals (2 Gold, 2 Silver and
a Bronze)
The oldest medal winner was French rider Jean Teulère, who
won Gold in the 3-day Team event at age 50. The youngest was Russian diver Julia
Koltunova (Silver in synchronised platform diving), aged 15. Two days later,
Hungarian swimmer Daniel Gyurta won Silver in the 200m breaststroke, also aged
15. Both were born on May 4, 1989.
What changed at Athens?
Boxing: Light Middleweight division was dropped. It was first held in 1952 and last won by Kazakhstan's Ermakhan Ibzaimov at Sydney, who
also won the Bronze medal in the same event in 1996. Previous winners of the division include László Papp of Hungary ('52 and '56) and Boris Lagutin of the Soviet Union ('64 and '68).
Fencing: Women's Foil Team event was dropped (first held in 1960, with Italy the winner at the last three Olympics) and replaced with
Women’s individual sabre. Giovanna Trillini was a member of all three previous wins by the Italian women's foil team.
In Athens she won Silver in the Individual Foil event.
Sailing: Soling class was dropped (first held in 1972, last won by Denmark at Sydney - one of only two Gold won by that country in 2000) and replaced with
Women's Keelboat Yngling class. Both classes have a crew of 3. Danish teams had won the Soling class 4 out of the 8 times the event had been contested.
Wrestling: both Freestyle and Greco-Roman reduced from 8 to 7 weight classes (max. weight now 120kg); women's wrestling
was introduced with four weight classes.
Who enjoyed their Olympic medal the longest?
The record must go to US track athlete Abel Kiviat, who, as a 20-year old, won a Silver medal at Stockholm on 10 July 1912 coming second in the 1500m race, his only Olympic medal.
Kiviat died on 24 August 1991, aged 99 and had enjoyed his Silver medal for an astounding 79 years and 45 days.
However, if Bronze medals had been handed out at St. Louis in 1904, this record would go to US swimmer Henry Handy. On 7 July 1904, when he was 18 years old, Handy came third in the 440 yds. Breaststroke.
He died on 13 November 1983, aged 97 and would have enjoyed his Bronze medal for 79 years and 67 days, 22 days longer than
Kiviat.
Update: at the start of
the Sydney Games (15 Sep 2000), US diver Hal Haig "Harry" Prieste, aged 103, emerged
as the oldest living Olympic medallist. Born on 23 Nov 1896, he had won the
Bronze medal in the platform diving on 29 Aug 1920 at Antwerp, when he was 23
years of age. He continued enjoyment of his medal until his death on 20 April
2001, aged 104.
And who had the least enjoyment of their Olympic medal?
The sad record goes to Swiss rower Gottfried Kottmann. On 15 Oct 1964 at Tokyo he celebrated his 32nd birthday and also won the Bronze medal in the Single Sculls rowing event. Just 22 days later, on 6
Nov 1964, Kottmann was killed in an automobile accident.
It could be argued that one man enjoyed his medal even less. At the Los Angeles Olympics in 1932, as part of the Art Contests, German climber Toni Schmid received a Merit for Mountaineering (Gold Medal) for the first ascension of the Matterhorn North Side (with brother Franz). Toni Schmid was killed on 16 May 1932 at age 22 in a climbing accident, 75 days BEFORE the Los Angeles Olympic Games got underway. This is the only recorded incident in which an Olympic medal was awarded posthumously. His older brother Franz Schmid died on 17
Sep 1992, aged 87.
Oldest medallist?
It is generally believed to be Swedish shooter Oscar Swahn, who won the last of his 6 Olympic medal (a Silver in the Running Deer, Double Shot Team event) on 26 July 1920 at Antwerp. He was 72 years and 280 days old. Swahn died seven years later.
However, there is one "competitor" who was even older than Swahn. In 1948 the Olympic Arts Contests were held for the last time. British graphic artist John Copley was awarded the Silver medal for his design "Polo Player" just about a month before his 74th birthday. He died two years later.
And the youngest?
Probably Greek gymnast Dimitrios Loundras, a member of the Panhellenios Gymnastics Club. On the fourth day of competition (9 April 1896) at the Athens Olympics his team placed second in the Parallel Bars team event. He was 10 years 218 days old. He died on 15 February 1970, aged 84.
There is speculation that a young boy from Paris took part in the 1900 rowing as a coxswain in the Dutch pair oars boat. Before the Final, it was considered that regular coxswain Hermanus Brockmann was, at 60kg, too heavy and was replaced by this boy, whose name or age has never been determined despite considerable efforts. He may have been as young as seven. Only a photograph exists, showing him with his two oarsmen Françoise Brandt and Roelof Klein. This decision evidently paid off, since the Dutch won the Gold medal. The question of which coxswain was handed the Gold medal has not been answered.
Most infamous?
US shooter James Howard Snook, winner of two Gold medals at Antwerp in 1920 may well be in front here. Eight years after winning his Gold medals, by then a professor of veterinary medicine at Ohio State University and aged 48, Snook was convicted for killing his mistress with a hammer and was executed by electric chair in Ohio eight months after committing his crime.