Weightlifting at the 1896 Summer Olympics – Men's two hand lift

The men's two hand lift was one of two weightlifting events held as part of the Weightlifting at the 1896 Summer Olympics program. The two-handed lift was the first weightlifting event on 7 April. Six athletes took part. Viggo Jensen of Denmark and Launceston Elliot of the United Kingdom both lifted 111.5 kilograms, and the tie was broken by a determination by Prince George that Jensen had performed the lift with better form than had Elliot. A protest by the British delegation resulted in each athlete being given further attempts to improve their scores. Neither did, and the results stood as originally declared with Jensen taking the gold medal. Jensen had, however, suffered from the extra lifts in that he experienced a slight injury in trying to lift more than he was able.

Two hand lift at the Games of the I Olympiad
Viggo Jensen (gold) Launceston Elliot (silver)
Venue	Panathinaiko Stadium
Date	7 April 1896
Competitors	6 from 5 nations
Winning weight	111.5
Medalists
Viggo Jensen  Denmark Launceston Elliot  Great Britain Sotirios Versis  Greece
1904 →

Background

This was the first of two appearances of this two hand lift event. It was held again in 1904.

Top visiting weightlifters in Athens included Launceston Elliot and Lawrence Levy of Great Britain and Viggo Jensen of Denmark. Two Greek weightlifters competed as well, along with German gymnast Carl Schuhmann and Hungarian tennis player Momčilo Tapavica. Levy withdrew from all weightlifting competitions after being told that there would be no two-hand dumbbell event, though he served as a judge and assistant to Elliott.^[1][2]

Competition format

In the first weightlifting event, two hands were used in lifting the weights. The type of lift used was similar to the modern clean and jerk, using a barbell. Lifters received three attempts. Each lifter performed one attempt before any began their second attempts. After each had lifted three times, the top three received three more attempts.^[3][2][4] Ties were to be broken by judging the style of the lift, though after a British protest additional attempts were granted to the two men who tied.^[2]

Schedule

Date		Time	Round
Gregorian	Julian
Tuesday, 7 April 1896	Tuesday, 26 March 1896	16:30	Final

Results

Rank	Lifter	Nation	Weight (kg)
	Viggo Jensen	Denmark	111.5
	Launceston Elliot	Great Britain	111.5
	Sotirios Versis	Greece	90.0
4	Georgios Papasideris	Greece	90.0
	Carl Schuhmann	Germany	90.0
6	Momcsilló Tapavicza	Hungary	80.0

References

1. "Weightlifting at the 1896 Summer Olympics". Olympedia. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
2. "Unlimited, Two Hands, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
3. "Weightlifting at the 1896 Athina Summer Games: Men's Unlimited, Two Hands". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
4. Official Report, part two, p. 70.

External links

• Lambros, S. P.; Polites, N.G.; De Coubertin, Pierre; Philemon, Timoleon J.; Anninos, C. (1896–1897). The Olympic Games: BC 776 – AD 1896 (PDF). Athens and London: Charles Beck; H. Grevel. OCLC 64612505.
• Mallon, Bill; Widlund, Ture (1998). The 1896 Olympic Games: Results for All Competitors in All Events, with Commentary. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-0379-0. Excerpt available at .
• Smith, Michael Llewellyn (2004). Olympics in Athens 1896: The Invention of the Modern Olympic Games. London: Profile Books. ISBN 978-1-86197-342-9.