Alphonse Grisel

Alphonse Grisel was a French athlete and gymnast.  He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens. 

From 1895 Grisel was affiliated to Racing Club de France, he was the French National long jump champion in 1896 with a jump of 6.23 metres, and runner-up in 1893, 1895 and 1898 with a third place in 1894, he was also National runner-up in the 400 metre hurdles in 1895. 

At the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece he competed in five different events, four in athletics and one gymnastic event. 

On the 6th of April 1896 after the opening ceremony, Grisel competed in three athletics events, in the 100 metres he came fourth in his heat out of five runners so didn't qualify for the final, in the 400 metres Grisel failed to finish in the top two in his heat so again he didn't qualify for the final, he also competed in the discus, no record is showing of his distance thrown but he didn't make the top four out of the nine throwers. 

The next day he was back in the Panathenaic Stadium to compete in the long jump, again no official records show his distance but some reports do show he jumped 5.83 metres and finished in fifth place. 

After a two day break, Grisel was back, this time competing in the parallel bars in the gymnastics, only Alfred Flatow (gold) and Louis Zutter (silver) were awarded medals, there isn't any official placings for the other 16 gymnasts involved, and even after all this Grisel still had the time and energy to follow fellow countryman Albin Lermusiaux on a bicycle as he competed in the marathon. 

References

Category:Olympic athletes of France
Category:Olympic gymnasts of France
Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1896 Summer Olympics
Category:19th-century sportsmen
Category:Gymnasts at the 1896 Summer Olympics
Category:French male sprinters
Category:French male artistic gymnasts
Category:Year of birth missing
Category:Year of death missing