1900 Summer Olympics / Gymnastics

Gymnastics at the II Olympic Games
information
venue	Bois de Vincennes
Competition venue	Vélodrome municipal
Nations	8th
Athletes	135 (135 men)
date	29-30 July 1900
decisions	1
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In the French capital Paris during 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 a competition in gymnastics , which is part of the Olympic Games 1900 (Games the II. Olympiad) was.

Remarks

Poster with advance notice for the Olympic international gymnastics championships

Gymnastics during the world exhibition was divided into three large gymnastics festivals, in which numerous athletes were involved. Two of these festivals had a national character, only for the international gymnastics championships on July 29th and 30th, in which the title of champion du monde de 1900 (world champion) was awarded, foreign participants were allowed.

In contrast to today's gymnastics competitions, in which the athletes mostly only use a single gymnastics device to convert their skills and abilities into highly complex forms of movement, gymnastics at that time was an almost interdisciplinary sport in which the versatility of physical exercises on various devices and the skills in strength - and skill sports were in the foreground. So it can be explained that only one competition was held in the all-around competition, which however required 16 individual exercises. One compulsory and one freestyle exercise on the gymnastics equipment horizontal bar , parallel bars , rings , pommel horse and without equipment on the floor (free exercise) were required, as well as any jump over the longitudinal horse . Other required jumping exercises were a straddle jump and a squat jump over two successive obstacles, a long jump over 5 m and a jump with a pole over a bar at a height of 2.20 m. Finally there was rope hanging on a 6 m long rope and 10 stone lifting with a weight of 50 kg. Referees assessed the technical execution and the harmony of the movement sequence. For each exercise there was a maximum of 20 points, so that an athlete could get 320 points.

135 athletes from 8 nations took part in this one competition, which the IOC added to the Olympic program of the Games of the Second Olympiad. Of the only 27 foreign gymnasts, 14 came from Germany . The venue was the Vélodrome Municipal on the site of the World Exhibition in the Bois de Vincennes . So it was gymnastics in the open air.

Results

Gymnastics all-round

→ Main article : Olympic Summer Games 1900 / gymnastics - individual all-around (men)

space	country	athlete	Points
1	FRA	Gustave Sandras	302
2	FRA	Noël Bas	295
3	FRA	Lucien Démanet	293
4th	FRA	Pierre Payssé	290
	FRA	Jules Rolland
6th	FRA	Gustave Fabry	283

Date: July 29th and 30th, 1900
135 participants from 8 countries

The first 18 places were taken by French. The best foreigner was Jules Ducret from Switzerland . The best German in 29th place was Hugo Peitsch .

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

• Side of the IOC to the Summer Games in 1900 (English)
• Official report (French, PDF, 3 parts in total; 8.10 MB)
• Page about all Olympic participants by Herman de Wael (English)