Panagiotis Paraskevopoulos

Silver medal, April 6, 1896, Panagiotis Paraskevopoulos, discus throw. Athens 1896

It was a very difficult competition in which two Greek athletes, Panagiotis Paraskevopoulos and Sotiris Versis, hoped to finish among the top three. Especially the Greek sports fans were eagerly awaiting the competition as they had high hopes for Paraskevopoulos to win. According to sources, the performance of 27.81 he achieved was also a world record at the time. His main opponent was the American Robert Garrett, who had trained in the USA with a heavier disc. Normally, all athletes had to throw the discus in the ancient Greek manner from the standing position, but this probably faded in the course of the race and everyone threw with the technique that suited him.

The discus was made of wood and sheathed with iron at the rim. Paraskevopoulos quickly took the lead with a throw of 28.95 and was in the lead until the penultimate attempt. Then, in the final, Garrett threw the discus in his only beautiful throw to 29.15, a new world record, a performance that also earned him first place, much to the disappointment of the fans. The final ranking: Garrett (USA) 29.15 P. Paraskevopoulos (Greece) 28.95 Versis (Greece) 27.76 Robertson (UK)