France competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 6 to 15 April 1896. French athletes had appeared in every Summer Olympic Games of the modern era, alongside Australia, Great Britain, and Greece. France won the fourth-most gold medals with 5 and the fourth-most total medals with 11. Cycling was the sport in which the French competitors had the most success, as they completely dominated the field. The French team had 27 entries in 18 events, winning 11 medals.
Medalists
The following competitors won medals at the games. In the discipline sections below, the medalists' names are bolded. MedalNameSportEventDate Cycling Men's 10 km Cycling Men's time trial Cycling Men's sprint Cycling Men's 100 km Fencing Men's foil Athletics Men's triple jump Cycling Men's 10 km Fencing Men's foil Fencing Men's masters foil Athletics Men's 1500 m Cycling Men's sprint
Medals by sportSportTotalCycling4116Fencing1203Athletics0112Total54211
Multiple medalists The following competitors won multiple medals at the 1896 Olympic Games. Name Medal Sport Event Cycling Men's track time trialMen's sprintMen's 10 kilometres Cycling Men's 100 kilometresMen's 10 kilometresMen's sprint
Competitors
| width=78% align=left valign=top | The following is the list of number of competitors in the Games. SportMenWomenTotalAthletics 5 0 5Cycling 2 0 2Fencing 3 0 3Gymnastics 1 0 1Shooting 1 0 1Tennis 1 0 1 Total 11Adolphe Grisel competed in athletics and gymnastics while Albin Lermusiaux competed in athletics and shooting 0 11
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Medals by dayDayDate Total16 April010127 April121438 April100149 April0000510 April0000611 April311 5712 April0000813 April0000Total54211
Athletics
The five French athletes won two medals between them. Tuffère appears to have entered the 100-metre event but did not start; some sources have André Tournois in the first heat of the 100-metre event instead of Adolphe Grisel.Butler, Maynard. The Olympic Games. In Mallon & Widlund, pp. 37–41.Ekkehard zur Megede : The history of Olympic athletics. Volume 1: 1896-1936. Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970. Grisel entered the triple jump, but did not start.
Track & road events AthleteEventHeatFinalTimeRankTimeRankAdolphe Grisel100 mUnknown4Did not advanceAlexandre TuffèriDid not advanceAdolphe Grisel400 mUnknown3-4Did not advanceGeorges de la NézièreDid not advanceFrantz Reichel1:02.33Did not advanceAlbin Lermusiaux800 m2:16.6 1 QGeorges de la NézièreUnknown3Did not advanceFrantz ReichelDid not advanceAlbin Lermusiaux1500 mcolspan=2 4:36.0Georges de la Nézièrecolspan=2 Frantz Reichel110 m hurdlesUnknown3Did not advanceAlbin Lermusiaux1500 mcolspan=2
Field events AthleteEventFinalDistancePositionAdolphe GriselMen's long jump5.835Alexandre Tuffèri5.984Adolphe GriselMen's triple jumpAlexandre Tuffèri12.70Louis AdlerMen's shot putAdolphe GriselLouis AdlerMen's discus throwAdolphe GriselUnknown5-9
Cycling
France dominated the cycling events, taking 4 of the 6 gold medals. Three were won by Paul Masson who won every event he entered, with Léon Flameng adding the fourth as well as a silver and a bronze. One of the two won each event that a Frenchman contested; the two gold medals won by other countries were in competitions that Masson and Flameng did not enter.
Track
AthleteEventTime / DistanceRankPaul MassonMen's time trial24.0Léon FlamengMen's sprintUnknownPaul Masson4:58.2Léon Flameng10 km17:54.8Paul Masson17:54.2Léon Flameng100 km3:08:19.2Paul Masson
Fencing
The French fencers were held in high regard prior to the Games; Gravelotte and Callot validated those expectations in the amateur foil competition. Each went undefeated in their pool, advancing to face each other in the final. Gravelotte won the first-to-3 bout. Surprisingly, however, Perronet lost to the Greek Leonidas Pyrgos in the only match of the masters competition.
AthleteEventRound 1FinalRankOpposition ScoreRankHenri CallotMen's foil301 QL 1–3Eugène-Henri Gravelotte301 QW 3–1Henri de Laborde123Did not advance5Joanni PerronetMen's masters foilcolspan=3 L 1–3
Gymnastics
Grisel competed in the parallel bars in the gymnastics program. The competitions had no formal scoring, the judges merely selecting the winner and runner-up. Grisel was neither in this competition.
Artistic
Athlete Event Result Rank Adolphe Grisel Parallel bars Unknown 3–18
Shooting
Lermusiaux entered the military rifle event in the shooting program. His score and placing are unknown.
AthleteEventHitsScoreRank Albin Lermusiaux 200 m military rifle Unknown Unknown 14–41
Tennis
Only the first initial and last name of the French tennis player in 1896 is known. He was defeated in the first round of the singles tournament.
AthleteEventFirst roundQuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinalOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreRankJ. DefertSinglesL Did not advance=8
References
(Digitally available at ) (Excerpt available at )