| Noc: | GER |
| Nocname: | German Olympic Sports Confederation |
| Games: | Summer Olympics |
| Year: | 1896 |
| Flagcaption: | Flag of the German Empire |
| Website: | |
| Location: | Athens, Greece |
| Date: | April 6, 1896 – April 15, 1896 |
| Competitors: | 19 |
| Sports: | 6 |
| Events: | 24 |
| Rank: | 3 |
| Gold: | 6 |
| Silver: | 5 |
| Bronze: | 2 |
| Appearances: | auto |
| See also: | 1906 Intercalated Games (1952) (1956–1964) (1968–1988) (1968–1988) |
Germany competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.The Germans were the third most successful nation in terms of both gold medals (6 plus 1 as part of a mixed team) and total medals (13). Gymnastics was the sport in which Germany excelled. The German team had 19 athletes. The Germans had 75 entries in 26 events (of which 48 entries were in the 8 gymnastics events), taking 13 medals.
The following competitors won medals at the games. In the discipline sections below, the medalists' names are bolded.Medals awarded to participants of mixed-NOC teams are represented in italics. These medals are not counted towards the individual NOC medal tally.
| Medals by sport | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Total | |||||||
| Gymnastics | 5 | 3 | 2 | 10 | ||||
| Wrestling | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||||
| Athletics | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||
| Cycling | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||
| Total | style=background:gold | 6 | style=background:silver | 5 | style=background:#c96 | 2 | 13 | |
The following competitors won multiple medals at the 1896 Olympic Games.
| width=78% align=left valign=top |The following is the list of number of competitors in the Games.
| width=180 | Sport | width=55 | Men | width=55 | Women | width=55 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Athletics | 5 | 0 | 5 | ||||
| Cycling | 3 | 0 | 3 | ||||
| Gymnastics | 11 | 0 | 11 | ||||
| Tennis | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||
| Weightlifting | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||
| Wrestling | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||
| Total | 19[1] | 0 | 19 |
| width="22%" align="left" valign="top" |
| Medals by day | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day | Date | Total | ||||||
| 1 | 6 April | bgcolor=F7F6A8 | 0 | bgcolor=DCE5E5 | 0 | bgcolor=FFDAB9 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 7 April | bgcolor=F7F6A8 | 0 | bgcolor=DCE5E5 | 0 | bgcolor=FFDAB9 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | 8 April | bgcolor=F7F6A8 | 0 | bgcolor=DCE5E5 | 0 | bgcolor=FFDAB9 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | 9 April | bgcolor=F7F6A8 | 4 | bgcolor=DCE5E5 | 3 | bgcolor=FFDAB9 | 1 | 8 |
| 5 | 10 April | bgcolor=F7F6A8 | 1 | bgcolor=DCE5E5 | 1 | bgcolor=FFDAB9 | 1 | 3 |
| 6 | 11 April | bgcolor=F7F6A8 | 1 | bgcolor=DCE5E5 | 0 | bgcolor=FFDAB9 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | 12 April | bgcolor=F7F6A8 | 0 | bgcolor=DCE5E5 | 1 | bgcolor=FFDAB9 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | 13 April | bgcolor=F7F6A8 | 0 | bgcolor=DCE5E5 | 0 | bgcolor=FFDAB9 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 6 | 5 | 2 | 13 | ||||
See main article: article and Athletics at the 1896 Summer Olympics.
Hofmann's silver medal in the 100 metres was the only medal earned by the German athletes, though they finished 4th or 5th an additional 4 times. Alfred Flatow was entered in the 100 metres but did not start.[2] [3] [4]
Track & road events
| Athlete | Event | Heat | Final | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Rank | Time | Rank | |||
| Kurt Doerry | align=left rowspan=4 | 100 m | Unknown | 4 | Did not advance | |
| Alfred Flatow | Did not advance | |||||
| Fritz Hofmann | 12.6 | 2 Q | 12.2 | |||
| Friedrich Traun | 13.5 | 3 | Did not advance | |||
| Kurt Doerry | align=left rowspan=3 | 400 m | Unknown | 3-4 | Did not advance | |
| Fritz Hofmann | 58.6 | 2 Q | 56.7 | 4 | ||
| Friedrich Traun | Did not advance | |||||
| Kurt Doerry | align=left rowspan=3 | 800 m | Did not advance | |||
| Fritz Hofmann | Did not advance | |||||
| Friedrich Traun | 2:13.4 | 3 | Did not advance | |||
| Carl Galle | 1500 m | 4:39.0 | 4 | |||
| Kurt Doerry | align=left rowspan=3 | 110 m hurdles | Unknown | 3-4 | Did not advance | |
| Fritz Hofmann | Did not advance | |||||
| Friedrich Traun | Did not advance | |||||
| Carl Galle | Marathon | |||||
Field events
| Athlete | Event | Final | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Distance | Position | |||
| Conrad Böcker | align=left rowspan=10 | High jump | ||
| Kurt Doerry | ||||
| Alfred Flatow | ||||
| Gustav Flatow | ||||
| Carl Galle | ||||
| Fritz Hofmann | 1.55 | 5 | ||
| Fritz Manteuffel | ||||
| Gustav Schuft | ||||
| Carl Schuhmann | ||||
| Friedrich Traun | ||||
| Kurt Doerry | align=left rowspan=10 | Pole vault | ||
| Alfred Flatow | ||||
| Gustav Flatow | ||||
| Carl Galle | ||||
| Fritz Hofmann | ||||
| Fritz Manteuffel | ||||
| Karl Neukirch | ||||
| Carl Schuhmann | ||||
| Friedrich Traun | ||||
| Hermann Weingärtner | ||||
| Kurt Doerry | align=left rowspan=7 | Long jump | ||
| Alfred Flatow | ||||
| Carl Galle | ||||
| Fritz Hofmann | ||||
| Friedrich Traun | ||||
| Carl Schuhmann | 5.70 | 8 | ||
| Hermann Weingärtner | ||||
| Alfred Flatow | align=left rowspan=4 | Triple jump | ||
| Fritz Hofmann | Unknown | 6-7 | ||
| Carl Schuhmann | Unknown | 5 | ||
| Friedrich Traun | ||||
| Conrad Böcker | align=left rowspan=5 | Shot put | ||
| Alfred Flatow | ||||
| Fritz Hofmann | 10.00 | 5-7 | ||
| Carl Schuhmann | Unknown | 5-7 | ||
| Hermann Weingärtner | ||||
| Carl Schuhmann | Discus throw | |||
See main article: article and Cycling at the 1896 Summer Olympics.
| Athlete | Event | Time / Distance | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Theodor Leupold | align=left rowspan=2 | Men's time trial | 27.0 | 5 |
| Joseph Rosemeyer | 27.2 | 8 | ||
| Joseph Rosemeyer | Men's sprint | |||
| Joseph Rosemeyer | 10 km | Unknown | 4 | |
| Bernard Knubel | align=left rowspan=4 | 100 km | ||
| Theodor Leupold | ||||
| Joseph Rosemeyer | ||||
| Joseph Welzenbacher | ||||
| Joseph Welzenbacher | Men's 12 hour race | |||
| Athlete | Event | Time | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August von Gödrich | align=left rowspan=6 | Men's road race | 3:42:18 | |
| Bernard Knubel | ||||
| Theodor Leupold | ||||
| Fritz Manteuffel | ||||
| Joseph Rosemeyer | ||||
| Joseph Welzenbacher | ||||
See main article: Gymnastics at the 1896 Summer Olympics.
Germany dominated the gymnastics program, taking 5 of the 8 gold medals and medalling in each event.
See main article: Tennis at the 1896 Summer Olympics.
Traun was defeated by Boland in the first round of the singles tournament. The two entered the doubles tournament as a pair, winning the gold medal in that competition as part of a mixed team; that medal is not counted for Germany.
| Athlete | Event | First round | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Rank | |||
| Friedrich Traun | Singles | L 0–6, 6–2, 2–6 | Did not advance | =8 | |||
| Doubles | W | W 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 | |||||
See main article: article and Weightlifting at the 1896 Summer Olympics.
Schuhmann's lift was equal to that of the bronze medallist, but lifting form was used as a tie-breaker in the event.
See main article: article and Wrestling at the 1896 Summer Olympics.
Schuhmann first faced Launceston Elliot, the one-handed lift weightlifting champion, defeating him fairly easily. He received a bye in the semifinals, to face Georgios Tsitas in the final match. That contest took two days, after it had been postponed on account of darkness 40 minutes into the first day. Schuhmann quickly won on the second morning.