Events in Sports History in April 1896

Apr 6 First modern Summer Olympic Games open in Athens, Greece; American athlete James Connolly becomes first modern Olympic champion when he wins triple jump (then 2 hops and a jump); later 3rd in long jump, 2nd in high jump
Apr 7 American athlete Robert Garrett wins the throwing double at the Athens Olympics by taking out the shot putt (11.22m); wins the discus the previous day

First Olympic 1500m

Apr 7 Australian athlete Edwin Flack wins gold in the first Olympic 1500m final at inaugural modern Games in Athens; goes on to win 800m two days later

Apr 9 Australian athlete Edwin Flack claims the middle distance double at the Athens Olympics winning the 800m final in 2:11.0; his 2nd victory of the Games after success in the 1500m
Apr 9 Greek shooter Pantelis Karasevdas scores a perfect 40 hits to win the military rifle event at the Athens Olympics; Greek 1-2-3 with Pavlos Pavlidis and Nicolaos Trikupis taking out the minor placings
Apr 10 American athlete Thomas Burke claims the sprint double at the Athens Olympics winning the 100m final in 12.0s; his 2nd victory of the Games after success in the 400m
Apr 10 High jumper Ellery Clark leads an American sweep of the placings with a leap of 1.81m at the Athens Olympics; his 2nd victory of the Games after taking out the long jump

1st Olympic Marathon

Apr 10 Spyridon Louis of Greece wins inaugural Olympic marathon (2:58:50) in Athens; runs last lap accompanied by Constantine I

Apr 11 Hungarian swimmer Alfréd Hajós beats Otto Herschmann of Austria by 0.6s to win the inaugural Olympic 100m freestyle final in 1:22.2 at the Athens Games; also takes out the 1,200m on the same day
Apr 11 Irish tennis player John Boland, representing Great Britain wins both the men's singles and doubles finals at the Athens Olympics; Dionysios Kasdaglis of Greece loses both matches
Apr 12 Stamasia Portrisi is 1st woman to win a marathon (5:30 in Athens)
Apr 15 1st modern Summer Olympic Games close in Athens, Greece; USA wins gold medal count, 11; Greece wins total medal count, 46; IOC has retroactively assigned gold, silver & bronze medals to 3 best placed athletes in each event