Gymnastics at the 1896 Summer Olympics – Men's rings

The men's rings was one of eight gymnastics events on the Gymnastics at the 1896 Summer Olympics programme. The fifth event, it was held on 9 April. There were eight competitors from three nations.[1][2] The Greeks won the gold and bronze medals, with Hermann Weingärtner winning his fifth medal. Places 1–3 and 5 are known, but 4th place is not—any of the four athletes whose places are not known may have occupied the fourth position.[3]

Men's rings at the Games of the I Olympiad
Weingärtner competing in the rings event
Venue	Panathinaiko Stadium
Date	April 9
Competitors	8 from 3 nations
Medalists
Ioannis Mitropoulos  Greece Hermann Weingärtner  Germany Petros Persakis  Greece

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 5 Germans, 2 Greeks, and possibly one Hungarian.[1][2]

Competition format

Judges awarded the prizes, but little is known of the scoring and rankings. Each gymnast performed a routine two minutes long.[1][4]

Schedule

The men's rings was held in the afternoon of the fourth day of events, following the 800 metres, team parallel bars, team horizontal bar, vault, and pommel horse.[4]

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

Results

Three judges ranked Mitropoulos first while three other judges ranked Weingärtner first. Prince George broke the tie, in favor of Mitropoulos.[1]

Rank	Gymnast	Nation
	Ioannis Mitropoulos	Greece
	Hermann Weingärtner	Germany
	Petros Persakis	Greece
5	Carl Schuhmann	Germany
4, 6–8	Konrad Böcker	Germany
	Alfred Flatow	Germany
	Gustav Flatow	Germany
	Desiderius Wein	Hungary

References

1. "Rings, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
2. Sources do not agree as to whether Wein competed or not, and thus whether there were 8 gymnasts from nations or 7 gymnasts from 2 nations. He is included here.
3. "Gymnastics at the 1896 Athina Summer Games: Men's Rings". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
4. 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 )
• 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 )
• Smith, Michael Llewellyn (2004). Olympics in Athens 1896. The Invention of the Modern Olympic Games. London: Profile Books. ISBN 1-86197-342-X.