1900 Summer Olympics / Croquet

Tug of war at the II Olympic Games
information
venue	Paris
Competition venue	Bois de Boulogne
Nations	2
Athletes	10 (3 women, 7 men)
date	June 28 - July 4, 1900
decisions	1

In Paris as part of the World Fair ( Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Paris ) discharged international competitions for Physical Education and Sport (Concours Internationaux d'Exercices physiques et de Sports) included three competitions croquet (French croquet ). The International Olympic Committee (IOC) assigned these competitions to the program of the 1900 Summer Olympics (Games of the Second Olympiad) .

Remarks

Game of croquet at the 1900 Olympic Games

At that time croquet was a game that was played almost exclusively in the upper class and by the nobility. So it is to be understood that the IOC had already made the decisions in 1912 to come to terms with the history of the first five Olympic Games to regard croquet as an Olympic sport . However, the game was not popular and widespread everywhere, which is why one played the Roque , which is more famous in the United States , at the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis . The game subsequently lost its status as a sport, so that the competitions of 1900 in Paris were the only croquet performance in Olympic history.

Croquet is, however, a historical feature for the Olympic Games because it is one of the first sports in which women participated. Three French women , Marie Ohnier , Filleaul Brohy and the wife of the President of the French Croquet Association, Madame Desprès, were involved. The fact that the women did not hold a competition of their own, but a joint competition with the men, should be rated as extremely remarkable. However, all three women could not qualify for the final round.

According to the very sparse historical records, it can be assumed that only ten players took part in the competitions, only one of whom was not from France, the Belgian Marcel Haentjens . The competitions took place between June 24th and August 15th. The venue was the Pelouse de Madrid , a square of the Cercle du Bois de Boulogne , an association founded only a year earlier, which was actually dedicated to shooting live pigeons. Incidentally, it should be mentioned that also in this "sport" competitions were held in the context of the world exhibition on this same square, which are generally not included in the Olympic program.

Medal table

space	country			Third	total
1	France	3	2	2	7th

Results

Single with a ball

space	country	athlete	Blows
1	FRA	Gaston Aumoitte	15th
3	FRA	Georges Johin	21st
3	FRA	Chrétien Waydelich	-

Date: June 28, 1900

Three rounds were played. 6 men and 3 women took part in the first round (winner Chrétien Waydelich ). Only the four best of this round were allowed to play the second round (winner Georges Johin ). From this only the two best qualified for the final round (winner Gaston Aumoitte ). The third place for Waydelich was determined from the result of the second round.

Single with two balls

space	country	athlete	Victories
1	FRA	Chrétien Waydelich	3
2	FRA	Maurice Vignerot	2
3	FRA	Jacques Sautereau	1

Date: July 4th 1900

There were six registrations, including those from Ms. Desprès and Ms. Filleaul Brohy. The latter did not take part in the competition. A preliminary round was played in which Mrs Desprès was eliminated. The four remaining participants played each against each other in a final round. The winner was the player with the most games won.

Double

space	country	athlete
1	FRA	Georges Johin Gaston Aumoitte	k. A.

Date: unknown

The historical records do not provide any information as to whether the winners of this competition actually played without competition or whether there were opponents.

literature

• Volker Kluge : Summer Olympic Games. The Chronicle I. Athens 1896 - Berlin 1936. Sportverlag Berlin, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-328-00715-6 .
• Karl Lennartz , Walter Teutenberg: II. Olympic Games 1900 in Paris. Presentation and sources. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 1995, ISBN 3-928562-20-7 .
• Bill Mallon : The 1900 Olympic Games . McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, North Carolina 1998, CIP 97-36094.

Web links

• Official report (French, PDF, 3 parts in total; 8.10 MB)
• Page about all Olympic participants by Herman de Wael (English)