Three athletes from Denmark competed in five sports at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens. Two of the three combined to win a gold medal, two silvers, and three bronzes, while Eugen Schmidt earned no medals. Viggo Jensen contributed one of each color, while Holger Nielsen earned the second silver and two bronzes. Shooting and weightlifting were Denmark's most successful sports. Denmark had 15 entries in 12 events, winning six medals.
Medalists
The following competitors won medals at the games. In the discipline sections below, the medalists' names are bolded. MedalNameSportEventDate Weightlifting Men's two hand lift Shooting Men's 30 m free pistol Weightlifting Men's one hand lift Fencing Men's sabre Shooting Men's 300 m free rifle, three positions Shooting Men's 25 m rapid fire pistol
Medals by sportSportTotalWeightlifting1102Shooting0123Fencing0011Total1236
Multiple medalists The following competitors won multiple medals at the 1896 Olympic Games. Name Medal Sport Event WeightliftingShooting Men's two hand liftMen's one hand liftMen's 300 metre free rifle ShootingFencing Men's 30 metre pistolMen's 25 metre rapid fire pistolMen's sabre
Competitors
| width=78% align=left valign=top | The following is the list of number of competitors in the Games. SportMenWomenTotalAthletics 3 0 3Fencing 1 0 1Gymnastics 1 0 1Shooting 2 0 2Weightlifting 1 0 1 Total 3Viggo Jensen competed in athletics, gymnastics, shooting and weightlifting while Holger Nielsen competed in athletics, fencing and shooting 0 3
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Medals by dayDayDate Total16 April000027 April110238 April000049 April0011510 April0000611 April011 2712 April0011813 April0000Total1236
Athletics
Denmark's three athletes had little success in the 100 metres or the discus throw. Jensen took fourth place in the shot put competition, the closest to an athletics medal the Danish team came.
Track & road events AthleteEventHeatFinalTimeRankTimeRankEugen Schmidt100 mUnknown4Did not advance
Field events AthleteEventFinalDistancePositionViggo JensenMen's shot putUnknown4Holger NielsenCharles WincklerViggo JensenMen's discus throwUnknown5-9Holger NielsenUnknown5-9Charles Winckler
Fencing
One of Nielsen's two bronzes came in the fencing competition, in which he won half of his four matches.
AthleteEventRecordTouchesRankWinsLossesForAgainstHolger NielsenSabre22109
Opponent nation Wins Losses Percent Austria 1 0 1.000 Greece 1 2 .333 Total 2 2 .500
Gymnastics
Jensen placed fourth of five competitors in the rope climbing contest, not reaching the top of the 14-metre rope. His actual distance climbed is unknown but it was less than 12.5 metres, the distance of the bronze medallist.
AthleteEventResultRankViggo JensenRope climbing Unknown 4
Shooting
Jensen and Nielsen both earned bronze medals in the shooting competitions, with Nielsen also winning a silver medal. Jensen specialized in the rifle events, taking 6th of 42 and 3rd of 20 in the two events. Nielsen did not finish his rifle competition, but performed well in the pistol events, in which he won two medals and took 5th place of 16 in the third event.
AthleteEventFinalScoreRankViggo JensenMen's 200 m military rifle16406 Holger NielsenViggo JensenMen's 300 m free rifle1305Holger NielsenMen's 25 m military pistolUnknown5Holger NielsenMen's 25 m rapid fire pistolUnknownHolger NielsenMen's 30 m pistol285
Weightlifting
Jensen tied Launceston Elliot for weight lifted in the first event, the two handed lift. Prince George of Greece, the judge for the event, determined that Jensen had lifted the 111.5 kilograms in better style than Elliot, awarded the Dane the gold medal. In the second event, the one handed, Jensen's 57 kilograms were not close to Elliot's 71 kilograms and thus Jensen took second place in that event.
AthleteEventWeightRankViggo JensenOne hand lift57.0Viggo JensenTwo hand lift111.5
References
(Digitally available at ) (Excerpt available at )