French athlete Alexandre Maspoli won a bronze medal at the 1906 Olympic Games in two-armed weightlifting and also competed in the standing long jump. At the unofficial 1902 World Championships, he won, setting world records. After the 1906 Olympic Games, he started another career as a sculptor creating the Monument aux Morts de la Côte-Saint-André and the Monument aux Morts d’Arcachon in remembrance of the victims of World War I. In 1934 he also created a monument of the famous French sportsman, journalist and sports administrator Frantz Reichel, which now sits in Paris.
Maspoli lived in Lyon and was a member of the Société des Artistes français. For the statuette Le Jet du Boulet two works can be considered: the Le joueur de pétanque (Petanque player, gilded bronze, 47 cm high) and the Lanceur de poids (The shot-putter, bronze, 51 cm high) with the first one being the more likely candidate. The Mask of Philippides might be the statue Philippides (now titled L’athlète victorieux) located at the Velodrome Tête-d’Or in Lyon. Philippides is another version of the name Pheidippides, the legendary runner of Marathon.
France