IOC code GER 6 5 | Competitors 19 in 6 sports | |
 | ||
NOC German Olympic Sports Confederation Website www.dosb.de (German) (English) (French) Medals
Ranked 3rd Gold
Silver
Bronze
Total
6
5
2
13 | ||
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.
Contents
Athletics
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.
Cycling
Germany's only cycling medal came in the long-distance road race.
Gymnastics
Germany dominated the gymnastics program, taking 5 of the 8 gold medals and medalling in each event.
Tennis
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.
Weightlifting
Schuhmann's lift was equal to that of the bronze medallist, but lifting form was used as a tie-breaker in the event.
Wrestling
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.