The 1920 French gymnastic team and officials.
Rediscovering the French gymnastics medallists of 1920
By Philip Barker
The identities of four previously unrecognised French gymnasts who earned bronze in the team event at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics have been brought to light following meticulous research conducted by descendants of some of the original team members.
Their researches came to fruition this year with the publication “the Epic Story of the 1920 French Gymnastics team” an impressive 109-page report on those Games.
In an era when seemingly every detail of an Olympic celebration is recorded, it is easy to forget that information was not always as well documented.
An official report of the 1920 Antwerp Games was not published at the time because of financial difficulties. Only many years later did the International Olympic Committee (IOC) publish a document compiled from surviving records.
An error in transcribing the names had meant that although Emile Boitelle was part of the French team that won bronze in gymnastics, his name was never properly set down in the roll of honour.
He died in 1951 but his grandson Patrick began research into his career in 2011.
An encounter with historian and International Pierre de Coubertin Committee (CIPC) member Jean-Pierre Guilbert helped him establish that Emile Boitelle was indeed part of the team.
In 2023, the trinity was completed when, shortly after the death of his father Alain, Vincent Bouchès initiated deeper research into the exploits of his own great-grandfather, another gymnast called Emile, at the same 1920 Games.
Vincent Bouchès contacted Patrick Boquet-Boitelle and they resolved to work together to find out more. Guilbert was able to bring his expertise to resolving some of the questions posed by the pair.
The work has a foreword from Stéphane Hatot, French Olympic Committee (CNOSF)
Administrator in charge of Olympic culture who noted that “A trio of memorialists has corrected the errors of time and shed new light on the members of the French gymnastics delegation. They have revealed its exact composition, the events assigned to each gymnast, and the identities of four new French gymnasts who won bronze medals in the team event. We thought we knew them all… and yet…”
The four new bronze medallists are Henri Hermann, Alfred Droesch, Arthur Hilbert (all three from the Belfortaine club) and Hippolyte Vanhoele (from l’Ancienne de Roubaix). The identities of two other gymnasts, Louis Quempe and Alfred Bruyenne have also been corrected.
It also means that some who were previously considered to be medallists have now been taken off the list.
The book is illustrated with many fascinating photographs, many probably not widely seen for over a century. These also include images of other nations who took part in the competitions.
These have been carefully analysed for the study, along with hundreds of old newspapers and publications to piece together the story. Other official booklets produced at that time have also been extensively used in re-constructing the gymnastics events of 1920.
It is a measure of the thoroughness of research that this has even added to the knowledge in the most authoritative book on Antwerp 1920, authored by ISOH stalwarts Bill Mallon and the late Tony Bijkerk some 13 years ago.
The revelations have unsurprisingly attracted the attention of the famous French sporting newspaper L’Equipe which has described it as a “remarkable enquiry of rehabilitation.”
Both French and English versions of the book have been available online in the Olympic Studies Centre’s Olympic World Library.
The authors of this work have also launched a website “to rehabilitate and perpetuate the memory of these men who were part of this sporting adventure and proudly represented their country.” This can be found at: https://www.gymojeux1920.fr/
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