Panagiotis Paraskevopoulos ( el, Παναγιώτης Παρασκευόπουλος, 1875 – 8 July 1956) was a Greek

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-dev ...

. He competed at the

1896 Summer Olympics The 1896 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 1896, Therinoí Olympiakoí Agónes 1896), officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 1ης Ολυμπιάδας, Agónes tis 1is Ol ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh List ...

, and the

1900 Summer Olympics The 1900 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1900, link=no), today officially known as the Games of the II Olympiad () and also known as Paris 1900, were an international multi-sport event that took place in Paris, France, from 1 ...

held in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

. He was born in

Gortynia Gortynia ( el, Γορτυνία) is a municipality in the Arcadia regional unit, Peloponnese, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town Dimitsana. The municipality has an area of 1,050.882 km2. Municipality The municipality Gortynia ...

and died in Corfu.

Biography

Paraskevopoulos competed in the discus throw, at the

an event which the Greek public felt that a Greek athlete was sure to win. Indeed, when Paraskevopoulos threw the discus 28.95 metres, it seemed as if he had won the event. The only athlete left to throw was

Robert Garrett Robert S. Garrett (May 24, 1875 – April 25, 1961) was an American athlete, as well as investment banker and philanthropist in Baltimore, Maryland and financier of several important archeological excavations. Garrett was the first modern Ol ...

of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, who had been unable to throw the discus any distance in his first two throws. Garrett's final attempt, however, was a good one and sailed to 29.15 metres, relegating Paraskevopoulos to second place. Four years later Paraskevopoulos traveled to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, to compete at the

, he entered the

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

and with a distance of 11.29 metres he finished qualifying in fifth place, the final took place the next day, in the final he throw the put 11.52 metres, but this didn't change the positions and he still finished in fifth place as the throws from qualifying also counted towards the final. He also competed in his favoured event the

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an ancient sport, as demonstrated by t ...

, in the qualifying he threw 34.04 metres to qualify in fourth place, again he improved his distance in the final when throwing 34.50 metres but again his position didn't change and finished fourth just 10 centimetres behind Richard Sheldon from America, who won the bronze medal.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Paraskevopoulos, Panagiotis 1875 births 1956 deaths Greek male discus throwers Greek male shot putters Athletes (track and field) at the 1896 Summer Olympics 19th-century sportsmen Athletes (track and field) at the 1900 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Greece Olympic silver medalists for Greece Medalists at the 1896 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Date of birth missing People from Arcadia, Peloponnese Sportspeople from the Peloponnese