Champagne, brandy, beef bullion Oxo cubes, sips of strychnine and gargling with wine. This was how athletes prepared for the 1908 London Men’s Marathon, now an Olympic legend.
Only 6 runners completed the course, perhaps due to a humid 78 degrees and dehydration. Water was not considered helpful though champagne, brandy and beef broth were offered along the route. The first to enter the stadium was
22 year old Dorando Pietri, a 5’2″ Italian pastry chef who gargled with wine en route. He collapsed, was helped to his feet, then collapsed four more times before crossing the finish line. He was hailed the winner, and taken from the stadium on a stretcher.
sips of strychnine and gargling with wine
Second was American Johnny Hayes who lodged an appeal as he had completed the course without drama or assistance. He won the medal but Pietri won the crowd’s heart. He was presented with a silver cup by Queen Alexandra who was said to have beaten a tattoo on the floor of the stand with her umbrella as Pietri struggled across the finish line. “It would be no exaggeration,” the New York Times wrote, “to say that the finish of the marathon at the 1908 Olympics in London was the most thrilling athletic event that has occurred since that Marathon race in ancient Greece, where the victor fell at the goal and, with a wave of triumph, died.”
The 1908 race set the standard for the distance of subsequent marathons. Originally 25 miles, it was changed to 26 so it could begin at Windsor Castle getting the Royal Nod. 26 miles was officially adopted at the Paris games in 1924.
Fast forward to 2012. The Mens’s Marathon will be on Sunday August 12, the last day of the Olympics. If not so dramatic as the 1908 event, it will be the ultimate spectator event. The route passes some of London’s most iconic and historic sights.
The start and finish will be on The Mall which leads from Buckingham Palace. It will include Trafalgar Square, St. Pauls Cathedral, the Tower of London, the river opposite the London Eye, do a U-turn on Westminster Bridge, pass Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey and back up The Mall to Buckingham Palace.
With athletes from 204 countries the 2012 Olympics have come a long way from 1908 when 22 nations, 2,008 athletes, and only 37 women, took part. There were 24 sports which inlcuded tug of war and polo. Perhaps the biggest story this year is not the events, or even The Queen arriving with James Bond, but the importance and effect of Twitter. Will 2012 be know as the Twitter Games? It may well change how the events are viewed and affect TV coverage for ever. That is another story which may also become an Olympic legend.
To read more about the 1908 Marathon, Showdown at Shepherd’s Bush:The 1908 Olympic Marathon and the Three Runners Who Launched a Sporting Craze, by David Davis is available at Amazon.
this is an excellent narrative that provides the reader with an interesting historical perspective, and provides a quick overview of over 100 years ago.