Great Britain at the 1900 Summer Olympics


The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland competed as Great Britain at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. It was the second appearance of Britain after having participated in the inaugural 1896 Games. In Olympic competition, the nation has always shortened its official name to Great Britain rather than the United Kingdom seen elsewhere.

Medallists

MedalNameSportEventDate
AthleticsMen's 1500 m
TennisWomen's singles
TennisMen's singles
SwimmingMen's 1000 m freestyle
SwimmingMen's 4000 m freestyle
AthleticsMen's 4000 m steeplechase
AthleticsMen's 800 m

TennisMen's doubles

TennisMixed doubles

Sailing.5 to 1 ton

SailingOpen class

Sailing3 to 10 ton
Devon and Somerset Wanderers Cricket Team
Cricket2-day, 12 men
Upton Park F.C.
FootballMen's Football
Osbourne Swimming Club
Water PoloMen's Water Polo
AthleticsMen's 4000 m steeplechase
AthleticsMen's high jump
TennisMen's singles
AthleticsMen's 2500 m steeplechase
GolfMen's individual
Moseley Wanderers
Rugby UnionRugby Union
RowingMen's single sculls
TennisMen's singles
Sailing10 to 20 ton
SwimmingMen's 200 m obstacle
AthleticsMen's long jump
TennisMen's singles
GolfMen's individual
AthleticsMen's 4000 m steeplechase

TennisMen's doubles

Additionally British competitors won three gold medals, two silver medals and three bronze medals while competing for the Mixed Team.

Athletics

Great Britain took 4 gold medals in athletics, including one as part of a mixed team. This put them second on the leaderboard for that sport, behind the dominant United States as the two nations to win multiple gold medals in the sport. The British team won a total of 9 athletics medals including a sweep of the 4000 metre steeplechase event. 9 athletes competed in 10 events.

Cricket

Great Britain was represented by the Devon and Somerset Wanderers in cricket in 1900. The team won the only match, a 2-day 12-man contest, by 158 runs.
CricketersEventFinalPlace
CricketersEventOpposition
Result		Place
Devon and Somerset Wanderers
2-day
12-man
W by 158 runs

Fencing

Great Britain send fencers to the Olympics for the first time in 1900. None of the 3 British men reached the final in their event.

Football

represented Great Britain in the football competition. The club squad won its only match, against Club Française, 4-0.
; Summary
TeamEventMatch 1Match 2Rank
TeamEventOpposition
Result		Opposition
Result		Rank
Upton Park F.C.Men's football
W 4–0

; Match 1

Golf

Great Britain was one of four nations to compete in the first Olympic golf events. The British golfers took the silver and bronze medals in the men's competition, making Great Britain the only nation other than the United States to win a golfing medal that year.
GolferEventScoreRank
William Bathurst DoveMen's individual1867
David Donaldson RobertsonMen's individual175
Walter RutherfordMen's individual168
George ThorneMen's individual1856
John DauntMen's individual1845

Gymnastics

Great Britain's second Olympic gymnastics appearance was no more successful than the nation's first, resulting in no medals.
GymnastEventScoreRank
BroadbeckMen's artistic individual all-around24543
William ConnorMen's artistic individual all-around25031
HiattMen's artistic individual all-around172124
PearceMen's artistic individual all-around23854
PhillipsMen's artistic individual all-around22273

Polo

Great Britain was one of four nations to compete in the first Olympic polo event. British athletes played on three of the five teams, two of which included either American or French players, while the third included both American and French. The mixed British/American combination took the top place, the British/American/French team secured the silver medal, while the British/French team reached third place.
TeamEventQuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinalRank
TeamEventOpposition
Result		Opposition
Result		Opposition
Result		Rank
Foxhunters Hurlingham
Men's polo
W 10–0
W 6–4
W 3–1
BLO Polo Club Rugby
Men's polo
W 8–0
L 3–1
Bagatelle Polo Club de Paris
Men's polo
L 6–4		Did not advance

Rowing

Britain had a single rower present at the first Olympic rowing contests, winning the bronze medal in the single sculls event.

Rugby

Britain was one of three teams to compete in the first Olympic rugby games. Britain lost its only game, against France. The game against Germany was cancelled due to travel plans.
; Summary
TeamEventMatch 1Match 2Rank
TeamEventOpposition
Result		Opposition
Result		Rank
Moseley Wanderers
L 27–8		-

; Match 2
; Roster

Sailing

Great Britain matched France in gold medals at the 1900 sailing events with 5, but took only 1 other medal, a bronze. France took 8 silvers and 8 bronzes for a total of 21 medals to Britain's 6. However, even a perfect performance by the British athletes would have earned only a total of 8 medals—Great Britain failed to medal in only 2 of its attempts. The crew members listed are those listed by the IOC in their database.
The Olympic historian Ian Buchanan in his book "British Olympians" states that "reports on many aspects of the 1900 regatta are inconclusive and the crew members of the British entry "Scotia" has never been positively settled. The records of the British Olympic Association give the crew as Lorne Currie, John Gretton and Linton Hope, but it has been established that Linton Hope was in England at the time of the races and his name only appears in the Olympic records as he was the designer of the "Scotia". Similarly the names of Currie and Gretton are probably only listed as the owners of the boat but as it is possible that they sailed their boat, they are listed as Olympic champions, although the participation of Lorne Currie, in particular, is in doubt. The one crew member whose participation has been established is Algernon Maudslay, whose name does not appear in any Olympic records, but from contemporary press reports it is clear that he was the helmsman of the "Scotia"".
; Single race events
SailorsEventTimeRank
'½–1 ton class
race 1		3:29:45
½–1 ton class
race 2		3:45:464
'2–3 ton class
race 1		2:17:30
'2–3 ton class
race 2		4:17:34
'3–10 ton class4:14:58
Open class5:56:17
Open class–

; Regatta events

Shooting

Great Britain was represented by one shooter in its second appearance. Merlin, who had competed for Great Britain four years earlier, competed again. He tied for 7th in the trap shooting event.
ShooterEventScoreRank
Sidney MerlinMen's trap127

Swimming

Great Britain made its Olympic swimming debut in 1900. Jarvis won gold medals in each of the two long distance freestyle events; as neither distance was used again, he is the only Olympic champion ever in both the 1000 metres and 4000 metres. Kemp added a bronze in the obstacle event, another one-time-only competition. This put Great Britain at the top of the leaderboard by gold-silver-bronze though France and Austria had more total medals.

Tennis

Great Britain competed in tennis for the second time in 1900, again with great success. The Doherty brothers, Reginald and Laurence, and Charlotte Cooper won all 4 gold medals. Harold Mahony took silver in the men's singles and was on a mixed-nationality team that earned silver in the mixed doubles. Great Britain also took both of the bronzes in the men's singles and one of the bronzes in the men's doubles, as well as having British players comprise half of each bronze-medal mixed doubles pair. Ultimately, each of the 6 British tennis players took at least 1 medal.

Water polo

The British water polo team won gold easily. The roster listed is that credited with gold medals by the IOC; the actual competition roster may have differed with up to five of the listed players not actually playing. One British player played on a French team that won a bronze medal, as well, but the IOC credits that appearance to France and not Great Britain or a mixed team.
TeamEventQuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinalRank
TeamEventOpposition
Result		Opposition
Result		Opposition
Result		Rank
Osborne Swimming Club
Men's water polo
W 12-0
W 10-1
W 7-2