Cricket at the 1900 Summer Olympics
A two-day match between a British club and a Parisian collective that remains the sport's sole, quirky appearance on the Olympic stage.
1875–1941 (age 66)·Birthday: October 25·The Gilded Age
Biography
The cricket event at the 1900 Paris Olympics is a historical curiosity, an afterthought in the grand spectacle of the Games. Officially, only two teams competed: a British side represented by the Devon and Somerset Wanderers, a touring club, and a French team comprised almost entirely of British expatriates from the Parisian Athletic Club Union. Played over two afternoons at the Vélodrome de Vincennes, the match was poorly attended and barely recognized as Olympic at the time; participants believed they were playing an exhibition for the Exposition Universelle. The British won handily, but the true legacy is the event's singularity. It was the only cricket match ever contested in the Olympic program, a footnote that grew in significance over decades as the Olympics expanded and cricket sought re-entry. The retroactive awarding of silver medals to the 'French' team in the 1910s only added to its charmingly accidental place in sporting lore.
The Gilded Age
1860–1882
Born during or after the Civil War, they built industrial America — the railroads, the steel mills, the first skyscrapers. An era of massive wealth, massive inequality, and the belief that the future belonged to whoever could build it fastest.
Cricket was born in 1875, placing them squarely in The Gilded Age. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Cricket Was Born
The biggest hits of 1875
Cricket's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1875Born
President: Ulysses S. Grant
1880Started school
Edison patents the incandescent light bulb
President: Rutherford B. Hayes
1888Became a teenager
President: Grover Cleveland
1891Could drive
President: Benjamin Harrison
1893Could vote
World's Columbian Exposition dazzles Chicago
President: Grover Cleveland
1896Turned 21
First modern Olympic Games held in Athens
President: Grover Cleveland
1905Turned 30
Einstein publishes the theory of special relativity
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1915Turned 40
The Lusitania is sunk by a German U-boat
President: Woodrow Wilson
1925Turned 50
The Scopes Trial debates evolution in schools
Home: $4,366President: Calvin Coolidge"Sweet Georgia Brown" — Ben Bernie
1935Turned 60
Social Security Act signed into law
Gas: $0.19/galHome: $3,450President: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Cheek to Cheek" — Fred AstaireBest Picture: Mutiny on the Bounty
1941Died at 66
Pearl Harbor attack brings the US into WWII
Gas: $0.19/galHome: $3,060Min wage: $0.30/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Chattanooga Choo Choo" — Glenn MillerBest Picture: How Green Was My Valley
Key Achievements
- Constitutes the only cricket match ever played in the history of the modern Olympic Games.
- Resulted in the Great Britain team (represented by the Devon and Somerset Wanderers Club) being awarded the only Olympic gold medals in cricket.
- Led to the French team (mostly British expatriates) receiving silver medals, making them the only Olympic silver medalists in cricket.
Did You Know?
The 'French' team included at least one Dutchman, and several players were unaware they were competing in the Olympics.
The match was played on a rough field with a matting wicket laid over grass, next to the bicycle racing track.
Medals were not awarded at the time; the International Olympic Committee later recognized the event and distributed medals years afterward.
The scorecard was lost for decades and only rediscovered in the late 20th century.
“We are here to play cricket, not to be part of a circus.”
