Denmark at the 1896 Summer Olympics

Three athletes from Denmark competed in five sports at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens. Two of the three combined to win a gold medal, two silvers, and three bronzes, while Eugen Schmidt earned no medals. Viggo Jensen contributed one of each color, while Holger Nielsen earned the second silver and two bronzes. Shooting and weightlifting were Denmark's most successful sports. Denmark had 15 entries in 12 events, winning six medals.

Medalists

Further information: 1896 Summer Olympics medal table and List of 1896 Summer Olympics medal winners

Medal	Name	Sport	Event	Date
Gold	Viggo Jensen	Weightlifting	Men's two hand lift	April 7
Silver	Holger Nielsen	Shooting	Men's 30 m free pistol	April 11
Silver	Viggo Jensen	Weightlifting	Men's one hand lift	April 7
Bronze	Holger Nielsen	Fencing	Men's sabre	April 9
Bronze	Viggo Jensen	Shooting	Men's 300 m free rifle, three positions	April 12
Bronze	Holger Nielsen	Shooting	Men's 25 m rapid fire pistol	April 11

Results by event

Athletics

Main article: Athletics at the 1896 Summer Olympics

Viggo Jensen

Denmark's three athletes had little success in the 100 metres or the discus throw. Jensen took fourth place in the shot put competition, the closest to an athletics medal the Danish team came.

Event	Place	Athlete	Heat	Final
100 metres	–	Eugen Schmidt	4	Did not advance

Event	Place	Athlete	Best mark
Shot put	4th	Viggo Jensen	Unknown
Discus throw	–	Viggo Jensen	Unknown
		Holger Nielsen	Unknown

Fencing

Main article: Fencing at the 1896 Summer Olympics

One of Nielsen's two bronzes came in the fencing competition, in which he won half of his four matches.

Event	Place	Fencer	Record		Touches		Round-robin	Final
			Wins	Losses	For	Against
Sabre	3rd	Holger Nielsen	2	2	10	9	3rd	None held

Opponent nation	Wins	Losses	Percent
Austria	1	0	1.000
Greece	1	2	.333
Total	2	2	.500

Gymnastics

Main article: Gymnastics at the 1896 Summer Olympics

Jensen placed fourth of five competitors in the rope climbing contest, not reaching the top of the 14-metre rope. His actual distance climbed is unknown save that it was less than 12.5 metres, the distance of the bronze medallist.

Event	Place	Gymnast	Height

Shooting

Main article: Shooting at the 1896 Summer Olympics

Jensen and Nielsen both earned bronze medals in the shooting competitions, with Nielsen also winning a silver medal. Jensen specialized in the rifle events, taking 6th of 42 and 3rd of 20 in the two events. Nielsen did not finish his rifle competition, but performed well in the pistol events, in which he won two medals and took 5th place of 16 in the third event.

Event	Place	Shooter	Score	Hits
Military rifle	6th	Viggo Jensen	1640	30
	12th	Eugen Schmidt	845	12
	–	Holger Nielsen	Did not finish
Free rifle	3rd	Viggo Jensen	1305	31
Military pistol	5th	Holger Nielsen	Unknown
Rapid fire pistol	3rd	Holger Nielsen	Unknown
Free pistol	2nd	Holger Nielsen	285	Unknown

Weightlifting

Main article: Weightlifting at the 1896 Summer Olympics

Jensen tied Launceston Elliot for weight lifted in the first event, the two handed lift. Prince George of Greece, the judge for the event, determined that Jensen had lifted the 111.5 kilograms in better style than Elliot, awarded the Dane the gold medal. In the second event, the one handed, Jensen's 57 kilograms were not close to Elliot's 71 kilograms and thus Jensen took second place in that event.

Event	Place	Weightlifter	Best lift
One handed	2nd	Viggo Jensen	57.0 kilograms
Two handed	1st	Viggo Jensen	111.5 kilograms

References

• 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.