Gymnastics at the 1896 Summer Olympics – Men's vault

Gymnastics at the Olympics

Men's vault
at the Games of the I Olympiad
Carl Schuhmann on the vault
VenuePanathinaiko Stadium
DateApril 9
Competitors15 from 5 nations
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Carl Schuhmann
 Germany
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Louis Zutter
 Switzerland
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Hermann Weingärtner
 Germany
1904 →
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The men's vault was one of the eight gymnastics events on the Gymnastics at the 1896 Summer Olympics programme. The third event, it was held on 9 April. 15 athletes from five nations competed. The Germans captured the gold and bronze medals, while Zutter won the silver for Switzerland.[1]

Background

This was the first appearance of the event, which is one of the five apparatus events held every time there were apparatus events at the Summer Olympics (no apparatus events were held in 1900, 1908, 1912, or 1920). The field consisted of 10 Germans plus five men from four other nations. The men's vault was one of only four events in 1896 that had no Greek competitors.[2]

Competition format

The event used a "vaulting horse" aligned parallel to the gymnast's run (rather than the modern "vaulting table" in use since 2004). Each gymnast had two minutes and could perform as many vaults as he wished during that time. Judges awarded the prizes, but little is known of the scoring and rankings.[2][3]

Schedule

The men's vault was held in the afternoon of the fourth day of events, following the 800 metres, team parallel bars, and team horizontal bar.[3]

Date Time Round
Gregorian Julian
Thursday, 9 April 1896 Thursday, 28 March 1896 Afternoon Final

Results

Rank Gymnast Nation
1st place, gold medalist(s) Carl Schuhmann  Germany
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Louis Zutter  Switzerland
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Hermann Weingärtner  Germany
4–15 Konrad Böcker  Germany
Charles Champaud  Bulgaria
Alfred Flatow  Germany
Gustav Flatow  Germany
Georg Hilmar  Germany
Gyula Kakas  Hungary
Fritz Manteuffel  Germany
Karl Neukirch  Germany
Richard Röstel  Germany
Gustav Schuft  Germany
Henrik Sjöberg  Sweden
Desiderius Wein  Hungary

References

  1. ^ "Gymnastics at the 1896 Athina Summer Games: Men's Horse Vault". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  2. ^ a b "Horse Vault, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
  3. ^ a b Official Report, p. 80.

Sources

  • Lampros, S.P.; Polites, N.G.; De Coubertin, Pierre; Philemon, P.J.; Anninos, C. (1897). The Olympic Games: BC 776 – AD 1896. Athens: Charles Beck. (Digitally available at [1])
  • Mallon, Bill; Widlund, Ture (1998). The 1896 Olympic Games. Results for All Competitors in All Events, with Commentary. Jefferson: McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0379-9. (Excerpt available at [2])
  • Smith, Michael Llewellyn (2004). Olympics in Athens 1896. The Invention of the Modern Olympic Games. London: Profile Books. ISBN 1-86197-342-X.
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Olympic Champions in Artistic Gymnastics – Men's Vault