A silver medal originally credited to Great Britain in the 1900 Olympics has been reassigned to France following new information about the cyclist who won it.
British citizen Lloyd Hildebrand finished second in the men’s 25km cycling race in Paris 124 years ago. However, new research by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) revealed that Hildebrand “was born and raised in France, and competed for a French club both before and after the 1900 Paris Olympics.”
The IOC’s executive board approved the reassignment of the medal on Thursday. “Recent research has now concluded that, even though Hildebrand was a British citizen, he was born and brought up in France, and competed for a French club before and after Paris 1900,” the IOC said in a statement Thursday.
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“Based on this new-found information, the executive board decided to apply the same policy as in previous cases.” Unlike today, National Olympic Committees (NOCs) were not involved in selecting athletes for the 1900 Games.
Instead, athletes paid an entry fee and submitted a license number issued by the national federation with which they regularly competed. “The medal won by Hildebrand will now be credited to France instead of Great Britain in the official records of the Olympic Games Paris 1900 and in the IOC’s database,” the IOC added.
A Team GB spokesperson said, “We were aware of the change of status for the medal, and have ourselves benefited in such circumstances before. We shall try to win one back later this summer!”
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games will take place from 26 July to 14 August, where France and England will have the chance to add further medals to their already illustrious cabinets.