1900 Summer Olympics

Games of the II Olympiad
Poster for the fencing events at the 1900 Summer Olympics
LocationParis, France
Nations26[note1]
Athletes1226[note1]
Events95 in 19 sports (21 disciplines) [note1]
Opening14 May 1900
Closing28 October 1900
StadiumVélodrome de Vincennes

The 1900 Summer Olympics (French: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1900), today officially known as the Games of the II Olympiad (Jeux de la IIe olympiade) and also known as Paris 1900, were an international multi-sport event that took place in Paris, France, from 14 May to 28 October 1900. No opening or closing ceremonies were held.

At the Olympic Congress of 1894, which convened in the Sorbonne building, Pierre de Coubertin proposed that the Olympic Games should take place in Paris in 1900. However, the delegates to the conference were unwilling to wait six years and lobbied to hold the first games in 1896. A decision was made to hold the first Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens and have Paris host the second Games.

The Games were held as part of the 1900 Exposition Universelle (World's Fair). In total, 1,226 competitors took part in 19 different sports.[1][note1] This number relies on certain assumptions about which events were and were not "Olympic". Many athletes, some of whom had won events, were unaware they had competed in the Olympic Games. Women took part in the games for the first time, with sailor Hélène de Pourtalès, born Helen Barbey in New York City,[2] becoming the first female Olympic champion. The decision to hold competitions on a Sunday brought protests from many American athletes, who traveled as representatives of their colleges and were expected to withdraw rather than compete on their religious day of rest.

Most of the winners in 1900 did not receive medals but were given cups or trophies. Professionals competed in fencing, as was tradition, and Albert Robert Ayat (France), who won the épée for amateurs and masters, was awarded a prize of 3,000 F (equivalent to 12,867 in 2022[3]). Some events were contested for the only time in the history of the Games, including angling,[4] motor racing,[5] ballooning,[6] cricket,[7] croquet,[8] Basque pelota,[9] 200m swimming obstacle race and underwater swimming.[10] This was also the only Olympic Games in history to use live animals (pigeons) as targets during the shooting event.[11] The host nation of France fielded 72% of all athletes (720 of the 997) and won the most gold, silver and bronze medal placings. U.S. athletes won the second-most in each while fielding the fifth-most participants, 75. British athletes won the third-most in each while fielding the second most participants, 102.[12]

  1. ^ "Paris 1900 Summer Olympics". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  2. ^ "Paris facts". Paris Digest. 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-09-08. Retrieved 2018-09-19.
  3. ^ 1262 to 1789 Leonardo Ridolfi, The French economy in the longue durée: a study on real wages, working days and economic performance from Louis IX to the Revolution (1250–1789), Ridolfi, L. (2019). Six Centuries of Real Wages in France from Louis IX to Napoleon III: 1250–1860. The Journal of Economic History, 79(3), 589-627. 1798 to 1809: Mitchell, B. R. (Brian R.). (1975). European historical statistics, 1750-1970. New York: Columbia University Press, 1810 to 1903: Sauvy, Alfred. Variations des prix de 1810 à nos jours. Journal de la société française de statistique, Volume 93 (1952) , pp. 88-104 1904 to 2022: Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Coefficient de transformation de l'euro ou du franc d'une année, en euro ou en franc d'une autre année – Base 2015 – Série utilisée par le convertisseur franc-euro – Identifiant 010605954
  4. ^ Mérillon, Daniel (1901a). Rapports : Concours Internationaux d'exercices physiques et de sports. Vol. 1. Paris: Imprimerie nationale. T1.
  5. ^ Journal of Olympic History, Special Issue – December 2008, The Official Publication of the International Society of Olympic Historians, p. 8, by Karl Lennartz, Tony Bijkerk and Volker Kluge
  6. ^ Journal of Olympic History, Special Issue – December 2008, The Official Publication of the International Society of Olympic Historians, p. 13, by Karl Lennartz, Tony Bijkerk and Volker Kluge
  7. ^ Journal of Olympic History, Special Issue – December 2008, The Official Publication of the International Society of Olympic Historians, p. 32, by Karl Lennartz, Tony Bijkerk and Volker Kluge
  8. ^ Journal of Olympic History, Special Issue – December 2008, The Official Publication of the International Society of Olympic Historians, p. 33, by Karl Lennartz, Tony Bijkerk and Volker Kluge
  9. ^ Journal of Olympic History, Special Issue – December 2008, The Official Publication of the International Society of Olympic Historians, p. 52, by Karl Lennartz, Tony Bijkerk and Volker Kluge
  10. ^ Journal of Olympic History, Special Issue – December 2008, The Official Publication of the International Society of Olympic Historians, p. 77, by Karl Lennartz, Tony Bijkerk, and Volker Kluge
  11. ^ Carmichael, Emma (July 27, 2012). "Gawker's Guide to the Olympic Sports You're Pretty Sure Don't Exist: Shooting". Gawker. Archived from the original on May 6, 2013.
  12. ^ "1900 Paris Medal Tally". Archived from the original on April 26, 2019. Retrieved April 26, 2019.