Ten athletes from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland competed in seven sports at the 1896 Summer Olympics. The Great Britain athletes were the fifth most successful in terms of overall medals (7) and tied for fifth in gold medals (2). The 7 medals came on 23 entries in 14 events.
Two tennis players (one English, one Irish) also played in mixed team squads, contributing to a gold and a bronze medal. These medals are not counted as part of the Great Britain total.
Medallists
The following competitors won medals at the games. In the discipline sections below, the medalists' names are bolded. Medals awarded to participants of mixed-NOC teams are represented in italics. These medals are not counted towards the individual NOC medal tally.
Medal Name Sport Event Date Tennis Singles Tennis Doubles Weightlifting One hand lift Athletics 110 m hurdles Cycling 12 hour race Weightlifting Two hand lift Athletics 400 m Cycling Road race Tennis Doubles
Medals by sportSportTotalAthletics0112Cycling0112Tennis1001Weightlifting 1102Total2327
Multiple medalists The following competitors won multiple medals at the 1896 Olympic Games. Name Medal Sport Event Weightlifting Men's one hand liftMen's two hand lift
Competitors
| width=78% align=left valign=top | The following is the list of number of competitors in the Games. SportMenWomenTotalAthletics 5 0 5Cycling 2 0 2Gymnastics 1 0 1Shooting 2 0 2Tennis 2 0 2Weightlifting 1 0 1Wrestling 1 0 1 Total 10Launceston Elliot competed in athletics, gymnastics, weightlifting and wrestling while George S. Robertson competed in athletics and tennis. 0 10
| width="22%" align="left" valign="top" |
Medals by dayDayDate Total16 April000027 April111338 April000049 April0000510 April0100611 April100 1712 April0011813 April0100Total2327
Athletics
Track & road events AthleteEventHeatFinalTimeRankTimeRankLaunceston Elliot100 m12.93Did not advanceCharles Gmelin12.93Did not advanceGeorge MarshallUnknown5Did not advanceLaunceston Elliot400 mDid not advanceCharles Gmelin1:00.52 Q56.7Grantley GouldingDid not advanceGeorge MarshallDid not advanceGeorge Marshall800 mUnknown4Did not advanceGeorge Marshall1500 mcolspan=2 Grantley Goulding110 m hurdles18.41 Q17.7
Field events AthleteEventFinalDistancePositionGeorge S. RobertsonMen's shot putGeorge S. RobertsonMen's discus throw25.204
Cycling
Track
AthleteEventTime / DistanceRankEdward BattellMen's time trial26.24Frederick Keeping27.0=5Edward Battell100 kmFrederick KeepingMen's 12 hour race294.946 km
Road
AthleteEventTimeRankEdward BattellMen's road raceUnknownFrederick Keeping
Gymnastics
Individual
AthleteEventResultRankLaunceston ElliotMen's rope climbingUnknown5
Fencing
AthleteEventRecordTouchesRankWinsLossesForAgainstEdgar SeligmanSabre
Shooting
Merlin and Machonet were unable to win any medals in the shooting events.
AthleteEventFinalScoreRankMachonetMen's 200 m military rifleUnknown14-41 Sidney Merlin115610Sidney MerlinMen's 300 m free rifleUnknown6-18Sidney MerlinMen's 25 m military pistolSidney MerlinMen's 25 m rapid fire pistol
Swimming
AthleteEventFinalTimeRankH.F Suter100 m freestyleH.F Suter500 m freestyle
Tennis
Boland (later best known as an Irish nationalist politician) was by far the best player in the tennis competition, amassing a 6-0 record over both events and two gold medals, though one of them was as part of a mixed team. He defeated Traun in the first round of the singles competition, then teamed up with him for the doubles competition. Robertson was much less successful, losing both of the matches he played, though he was awarded a retroactive bronze medal by the International Olympic Committee as his bye in the doubles quarterfinals put him in third place in that event. Like Boland's doubles gold medal, Robertson's bronze is not counted as part of the British total because the two played on mixed teams. Some sources include George Marshall and his brother Frank; the two were entered but appear to have not competed.
AthleteEventFirst roundQuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinalOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreRankJohn BolandSinglesW 6–0, 2–6, 6–2WWW 6-3, 6,1George S. RobertsonLDid not advanceFrank MarshallGeorge MarshallDoubles W W 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 LDid not advance
Weightlifting
Elliot (born in British India of Scottish ancestry) lifted the same amount as Viggo Jensen in the two handed lift, but was declared by Prince George of Greece to have taken second place based on lifting form. In the one handed lift, he easily defeated Jensen, who lifted only 57 kilograms.
AthleteEventResultRankLaunceston ElliotMen's one hand lift71.0Launceston ElliotMen's two hand lift111.5
Wrestling
Elliot was defeated by eventual champion Carl Schuhmann in the first round of the wrestling competition, tying for 4th and last place.
AthleteEventQuarterfinalSemifinalFinalOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultRankLaunceston ElliotMen's Greco-RomanLDid not advance=4
References
(Digitally available at ) (Excerpt available at )