Ioannis Frangoudis
Ioannis Frangoudis was a Greek Cypriot Military officer, athlete and Olympic shooter. He served in the Hellenic Army reaching the rank of Colonel, and represented the kingdom of Greece in the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athen. Frangoudis is the only Greek athlete who has won a gold, a silver and a bronze medal in a single Olympic.
Biography
Frangoudis was born in Zakynthos, Greece, while his family originated from Limassol, Cyprus, which was under Ottoman Empire at that time. He graduated from the Hellenic Military Academy in 1885, and worked his way up the ranks of the Greek army, being a captain at the time of the 1896 Olympics. After the Greco-Turkish war of 1897, he had become a colonel, and a friend of King George I of Greece. Frangoudis is also known for having been present at the assassination of the King, and for having taken his assassin, Alexandros Schinas, into custody.Frangoudis died by an electrocution accident in 19 October 1916, while visiting New York City for an ammo supply mission of the Greek army.
Olympics Career
Frangoudis competed in four of the five shooting events as well as serving as secretary of the Sub-Committee for Shooting.He began his sole rifle event, the free rifle, with a lead in the competition after the first string of 10 shots. However, his shooting was inconsistent and his second and fourth strings were far below the scores of his first and third strings. Frangoudis finished second behind Georgios Orfanidis, with 1,312 points to his countryman's 1,583. Viggo Jensen in third place was only 7 points behind Frangoudis.
In the rapid fire pistol, Frangoudis was the victor, defeating Orfanidis, along with two other competitors, 344-249. He added another top three finish in the free pistol, behind Sumner Paine and Holger Nielsen. Frangoudis also competed in the military pistol, finishing fourth.