Welcome to the first official entry of Olympic Wednesday as announced last week. We start with the 1896 Summer Games in Athens, Greece. The international behemoth we know today started humbly with just 176 athletes from 13 countries, competing in just 10 disciplines for 43 total gold medals. This makes our awards minimal for this entry, but as noted, they will expand over time as needed. Enjoy the humble start to this!

Editor’s Note: Perhaps it’s not a surprise that the home/host nation won the medal count with 47 overall, more than double the next-best nation (USA, 20). Considering travel issues and the limited number of events, it was easier, certainly, for Greece to have the most competitors, etc. Germany (13) and France (11) were the only other nations to reach double digits in the medal count. Some of these medals were team medals, so that accounts for individuals below and those totals.

Most Outstanding Male Athlete: Carl Schuhmann, Germany

Four athletes—three German, one American—topped the individual medal count with German gymnast Hermann Weingärtner leading the way with 6 medals (3G, 2S, 1B). His primary competition for this award designation was his countryman, Carl Schuhmann, who won 4 medals—all gold—competing in both gymnastics and wrestling. Interestingly, Weingärtner was slated to compete in track and field but did not.

Meanwhile, Schuhmann also competed without winning a medal in the triple jump (fifth place) and weightlifting events (tied for fourth place). Both Germans won team golds in gymnastic events as the awards were giving out differently in the first Games than they are today. While Weingärtner won more medals, we like the fact Schuhmann competed in so many different disciplines. We give him the nod here.

Most Outstanding Male Team: Germany Gymnastics

This may seem obvious, although there also were not a lot of “team competitions” yet in the Games. However, the German men won the team competitions for two different gymnastics events: the horizontal bar and the parallel bars, respectively. Both Schuhmann and Weingärtner won both these team medals, which accounts for why the “individual” medal counts for German athletes exceeds the nation’s count.