Antonis Pepanos

Silver medal, April 11, 1896, 500 m. freestyle. Athens 1896

It was the start of today’s 400m freestyle competition. Only three athletes from two countries, Austria and Greece, participated. The weather and the course obviously did not allow for a larger participation. The victory went to Austria’s Paul Neumann with a performance of 8.12.6 and far behind were the two Greeks Antonis Pepanos from the Patras Athletics Club with 9.57.6 and Stathis Chorafas from Kefalonia. Chorafas had previously competed in the 100m freestyle. There is no achievement for Chorafas, because in the 1896 Olympics there were only two medals – silver and bronze – for the first and second in each discipline. All swimming competitions were held on the same day.

The final ranking:Neumann (Austria) 8.12.6 Pepanos (Greece) 9.57.6 Chorafas (Greece).