Editing 1896 Summer Olympics (section)

== Participating nations ==

[[File:1896 Olympic games countries.PNG|thumb|Participating countries]]
[[File:1896 Summer olympics team numbers.png|thumb|Number of athletes from each country]]

The concept of national teams was not a major part of the Olympic movement until the [[1906 Intercalated Games|Intercalated Games]] 10 years later, though many sources list the nationality of competitors in 1896 and give medal counts. There are significant conflicts with regard to which nations competed. The International Olympic Committee gives a figure of 14, but does not list them.{{r|IOC1896}} The following 14 are most likely the ones recognised by the IOC. Olympedia lists 13, excluding Chile;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.olympedia.org/editions/1 |title=1896 Summer Olympics|publisher=Olympedia.org |access-date=31 January 2022}}</ref> other sources list 12, excluding Chile and Bulgaria; others list 13, including those two but excluding Italy. Egypt is also sometimes included because of the participation of [[Dimitrios Kasdaglis]], a Greek national who resided in Alexandria after living in Great Britain for years. Belgium and Russia had entered the names of competitors but withdrew.
{| class="wikitable collapsible" style="width:100%;"
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! Participating Nations
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# {{flagIOC|AUS|1896 Summer|1}}&nbsp;– [[Federation of Australia|Prior to 1901]] Australia was not a unified nation but six separately administered British colonies, but the results of [[Edwin Flack]] are typically given with him listed as Australian. This is a modern convention, because the [[Australian Olympic Committee]] was only founded in 1920. The concept of "national teams" chosen by [[National Olympic Committee]]s did not exist at this point in time.
# {{flagIOC|AUT|1896 Summer|3}}
# {{flagIOC|BUL|1896 Summer|1}}&nbsp;– The [[Bulgarian Olympic Committee]] claims that gymnast [[Charles Champaud]] was competing as a Bulgarian.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bgolympic.org/fce/index.shtml?s=001&p=0039&n=000001 |title=Athens 1896 |publisher=[[Bulgarian Olympic Committee]] |access-date=7 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312003309/http://www.bgolympic.org/fce/index.shtml?s=001&p=0039&n=000001 |archive-date=2007-03-12}}</ref> Champaud was a Swiss national living in Bulgaria. Mallon and de Wael both list Champaud as Swiss.<ref>De Wael, KONRAD [http://users.skynet.be/hermandw/olymp/gym1896.html Gymnastics 1896]</ref> Olympedia listed him as a member of the Bulgarian team of Swiss nationality.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.olympedia.org/athletes/31002 |title=Charles Champaud|publisher=Olympedia.org |access-date=31 January 2022}}</ref>
# {{flagIOC|CHI|1896 Summer|1}}&nbsp;– The Chilean Olympic Committee claims to have had one athlete, [[Luis Subercaseaux]], compete in the 100, 400, and 800-meter races in the athletics programme.{{r|LUN}}<ref>Guttmann (1994), 128; {{cite web|url=http://www.coch.cl/museo.htm |title=La Presencia de Chile en los Juegos Olimpicos |access-date=2006-12-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080702073204/http://www.coch.cl/museo.htm |archive-date= 2 July 2008 }}, Olympic Committee of Chile; McGehee (2000), 107</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aboutolympics.co.uk/athens-olympics.html |title=1896 Athens Olympics |access-date=21 February 2011 |author=AboutOlympics |quote=Fourteen nations were represented&nbsp;– Australia, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Chile, Denmark, Egypt, USA, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland |archive-date=28 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121128194808/http://www.aboutolympics.co.uk/athens-olympics.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | first1=Bill | last1=Mallon | first2=Ture | last2=Widlund | title=The 1896 Olympic Games. Results for All Competitors in All Events, with Commentary | page=39 | year=1988 | publisher=McFarland | location=Jefferson | isbn=0-7864-0379-9 | url=https://archive.org/details/resultsofearlymo00mall | access-date=21 February 2011 | quote=Across the field, in answer to the Herald's trumpet, come two Hungarians, a Chilian, a Frenchman, a German, an Englishman and an American, to run the 100-meters race | df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://olympic-museum.de/part_count/1896.htm | title=Participating Countries&nbsp;– Olympic Games Athens 1896 | access-date=22 May 2011 | author=Olympic Games Museum | year=2011 | publisher=olympic-museum.de | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111127142910/http://olympic-museum.de/part_count/1896.htm | archive-date=2011-11-27}}</ref> If so, he was 13 years old at the Olympics. No further details are given, and no mention is made of Subercaseaux in de Wael, or the Official Report. Olympedia claims that he was entered to compete in the 100m, 400m and 800m events but did not start.{{r|Subercaseaux}}
# {{flagIOC|DEN|1896 Summer|3}}
# {{flagIOC|FRA|1896 Summer|12}}
# {{flagIOC|GER|1896 Summer|19}}
# {{flagIOC|GBR|1896 Summer|10}} Tennis champion [[John Boland (Irish nationalist politician)|John Boland]] became a prominent [[Irish nationalist]]; his daughter [[Bridget Boland|Bridget]] later claimed that he had objected when the [[Union Jack]] was raised to mark his doubles triumph, pointing out that Ireland had its own [[green harp flag]], following which the organisers apologised and agreed to prepare an Irish flag.<ref name="MacCarthy30" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Ace Boland smashes his way to tennis success |url=https://olympics.com/en/news/ace-boland-smashes-his-way-to-tennis-success |website=olympics.com |publisher=IOC |access-date=26 July 2024}}</ref> While historian Kevin MacCarthy is sceptical of this story, by 1906, Boland was crediting his medals to Ireland.<ref name="MacCarthy30">{{cite book|last=MacCarthy|first=Kevin|title=Gold, Silver and Green: The Irish Olympic Journey 1896-1924|url=https://archive.org/details/goldsilvergreeni0000mcca/page/30 |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive |year=2010|pages=30–37|publisher=Cork University Press|isbn=9781859184585}}</ref> On the IOC website, his singles gold is credited to Great Britain,<ref>{{cite web |title=Athens 1896; Tennis Singles Men Results |url=https://olympics.com/en/olympic-games/athens-1896/results/tennis/singles-men |website=olympics.com |access-date=26 July 2024 |publisher=International Olympic Committee}}</ref> although a photograph captioned his nationality as "IRL/GBR".<ref>{{cite web |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120907035507/http://www.olympic.org/en/Multimedia-Player/All-Photos/1896/01/01/RAAEE042/?CurrentMediaPageIPP=20&CurrentMediaPage=4&SortOrder=rate |url=http://www.olympic.org/en/Multimedia-Player/All-Photos/1896/01/01/RAAEE042/?CurrentMediaPageIPP=20&CurrentMediaPage=4&SortOrder=rate |title=Photos RAAEE042 |quote=Athens 1896—Boland, John Pius (IRL/GBR) |archive-date=7 September 2012 |url-status=dead |website=Olympic.org |publisher=International Olympic Committee}}</ref>
# {{flagIOC|GRE|1896 Summer|169}}&nbsp;– Greek results typically include the results of competitors from Cyprus, [[Smyrna]] and Egypt.<ref>Gillmeister (1998), 364</ref> Some sources give Cypriot results separately, though most count [[Anastasios Andreou]], a Greek-Cypriot and the only athlete from Cyprus, as Greek (Cyprus was a protectorate of the United Kingdom at the time). Kasdaglis, an athlete of Greek origins living in [[Alexandria]], Egypt, is listed by the IOC as Greek during both his competition in the [[Tennis at the 1896 Summer Olympics – Men's singles|singles tennis]] competition and the [[Tennis at the 1896 Summer Olympics – Men's doubles|doubles tennis]] competition along with his teammate, the Greek athlete [[Demetrios Petrokokkinos]].<ref name="IOCTennisDoubles">{{Cite web|title=Athens 1896 Tennis Doubles Men Results|url=https://olympics.com/en/olympic-games/athens-1896/results/tennis/doubles-men|access-date=2021-09-02|website=Olympics.com|language=en}}</ref>
# {{flagIOC|HUN|1896 Summer|7}} 
# {{flagIOC|ITA|1896 Summer|1}}&nbsp;– The most prominent Italian involved with the games, [[Carlo Airoldi]], was deemed a professional and excluded from competition. However, the shooter [[Giuseppe Rivabella]] was also Italian and did compete.<ref>De Wael, [http://users.skynet.be/hermandw/olymp/sho1896.html Shooting 1896] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422194906/http://users.skynet.be/hermandw/olymp/sho1896.html |date=22 April 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ri/giuseppe-rivabella-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418014440/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ri/giuseppe-rivabella-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 April 2020 |title=Giuseppe Rivabella |access-date=24 February 2009 |work=Sports-Reference}}</ref>
# {{flagIOC|SWE|1896 Summer|1}} 
# {{flagIOC|SUI|1896 Summer|3}}
# {{flagIOC|USA|1896 Summer|14}}
* {{flagIOC|ZZX|1896 Summer}} – [[Tennis at the 1896 Summer Olympics|Tennis doubles]] teams could consist of players from different countries; the IOC labels these Mixed Teams.{{r|IOCTennisDoubles}}
|}

===Number of athletes by National Olympic Committees===

National Olympic Committees did not yet exist. Over 65% of all athletes were Greek.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="border:0;"
|-
! Country
! Athletes
|-
| {{flagIOC|GRE|1896 Summer}} ||align=center| 169
|-
| {{flagIOC|GER|1896 Summer}} ||align=center| 19
|-
| {{flagIOC|USA|1896 Summer}} ||align=center| 14
|-
| {{flagIOC|FRA|1896 Summer}} ||align=center| 12
|-
| {{flagIOC|GBR|1896 Summer}} ||align=center| 10
|-
| {{flagIOC|HUN|1896 Summer}} ||align=center| 7
|-
| {{flagIOC|AUT|1896 Summer}} ||align=center| 3
|-
| {{flagIOC|DEN|1896 Summer}} ||align=center| 3
|-
| {{flagIOC|SUI|1896 Summer}} ||align=center| 2/3 <ref name="Champaud">Charles Champaud can be considered an athlete for either Switzerland or Bulgaria.</ref>
|-
| {{flagIOC|AUS|1896 Summer}} ||align=center| 1
|-
| {{flagIOC|ITA|1896 Summer}} ||align=center| 1
|-
| {{flagIOC|CHI|1896 Summer}} ||align=center| 1
|-
| {{flagIOC|SWE|1896 Summer}} ||align=center| 1
|-
| {{flagIOC|BUL|1896 Summer}} ||align=center| 0/1<ref name="Champaud"/> 
|- class="sortbottom"
|style="text-align:right; border:0px; background:#fff;"| '''Total''' ||style="text-align:center; border:0px; background:#fff;"| '''243'''
|-
|}