Giorgos Tsitas

Silver medal, April 11, 1896, Giorgos Tsitas cat. heavy weights. Athens 1896

The competition took place, of course, not on a wrestling mat, but on sandy ground, and a total of five athletes participated, two Greeks and three foreigners. Giorgos Tsitas from Athens fought his first match against the Greek Stefanos Christopoulos. The former was a very strong athlete, while the latter stood out for his speed and agility. The fight was very spectacular and drawn and was finally decided when Christopoulos hit the edge of the pit during a Tsita’s hold and was taken out of the fight. First place was now to be decided between Tsitas and German Carl Schuhmann. The German wrestler advanced to the final after his victory over Elliott of Great Britain. However, since the preliminaries were delayed and it had become dark in the Panathenaic Stadium, the final was postponed to the next day (April 11). However, there were only a few fans in the stands of the Marble Stadium. Schuhmann, who was only 1.59 m tall, won the fight after a fierce battle that lasted about 20 minutes. The final ranking: Schuhmann (Germany) Tsitas (Greece) Christopoulos (Greece)