118 years ago, the strangest marathon in the history of the Olympics took place (7 photos)

Modern sport is quite different from sports, say, hundred years ago. Today there are many specialized areas where athletes can train in fairly comfortable conditions.





Yes, and an athlete today is a real profession, which a person literally devotes his whole life, often sacrificing the rest the delights of existence. Comfortable, distraction-free workouts success in future competitions. "What comfort are you talking about?" could me to tell the participants of the St. Louis Olympic marathon, which took place back in 1904. And yes, it was the most, perhaps, insane marathon in the history of the Olympics. This marathon could be called life-threatening, in the truest sense.



1904 Saint Louis Olympics medal

Firstly, it was necessary to run 40 kilometers, and secondly, along a dusty dirt road, where cars and horses were moving at the same time, thirdly, The route abounded with a large number of rather steep climbs and fourthly, marathon participants could quench their thirst only after overcoming 17 kilometers, it was at this distance that the only well. The only well at that distance was no mistake of the organizers, but even vice versa. So the head organizing committee of the Games wanted to collect data on the so-called "controlled dehydration", and marathon runners became unwitting participants in the experiment. The organizers of the marathon did not let us down with the timing of the run. Or rather they planned it for early morning as the weather was going to be hot, but it started neatly at 15-00, just in the heat. Total, in 32 people took part in the marathon, and it must be said that they were brave people, but with their weaknesses not alien to any individual and flaws. For example, a Cuban postman named Felix Carvajal.





Cuban Felix Carvajal at the stadium.

This young man has been running for a long time and even once crossed his homeland across. To participate in the marathon and the road he collected of money. I hitchhiked to New Orleans, and there, according to some reports, lost everything in dice, and according to other sources, he was robbed, and had to athlete-postman to get to St. Louis on foot. At the start he appeared before the public in his travel clothes, heavy boots and lush mustache. The organizers, without thinking twice, opened his trousers to they were like shorts and it was more comfortable for a man to run. Felix in didn’t eat anything for a couple of days, so after the race, seeing in some away from the highway garden, I decided to get hold of pears. Alas, the pears were not washed, so because of an upset stomach, he had to linger. It is worth noting that even this delay could not last long. put him out of action, and in the end he came to the finish line fourth. one more not a banal participant can be called an American named Fred Lortz.



Fred Lortz.

He was a bricklayer, and in his free time he was fond of running. It seems, that this young man still possessed a certain amount of cunning, but both everything in order. Fred had already run 15 kilometers after the start, when thirst literally exhausted him and he wanted to retire. But suddenly, I noticed a car that was moving along the track towards the finish line. All in all an enterprising American caught a ride and went on a trip. But the car, when there were about 7 km to the finish line, suddenly broke down, and our hero decided that he had rested enough to get to the end routes on their own. And what would you think? He came to the finish line first and he was honored as a marathon winner. They say that he personally even congratulated the daughter of US President Roosevelt. The victory celebration continued not for long, about 20 minutes, but the driver of the same car that he caught on the track. There was a scandal and a life sentence disqualification, but after about a year the mason runner was forgiven, after public apologies. We must pay tribute to Lorz, he really was a good athlete, since already in 1905 he won without any deceit Boston marathon. Another runner that I remember that day was Len Taunyani is a native of South Africa.



Len Taugnani.

This man was nearly eaten by dogs on his way to the finish line. A whole pack of stray dogs pursued the man in the hope of profiting, but Len rolled upinto the corn thickets and after three kilometers I still managed to break them off. Rumor has it that if he ran away from them finish, he could have been the winner of the race, but he made a huge detour, therefore came only ninth. But the winner in this race on survival was the American Thomas Hicks, but this story is dark and is associated with doping, though rather strange, consisting of rat poison and chicken eggs.



Thomas Hicks winner

Official representatives stuffed him with such a terrible cocktail organizing committee, who saw that the athlete was already ready to get off distances. When the finish line was 3 km away. into the well-known cocktail add half a glass of brandy. After such a killer swill, Thomas Hicks first reached the coveted ribbon, but crossed the finish line literally lying on the hands of the same official representatives organizing committee McGrath and Lucas. In general, doctors pumped out a man in within an hour after the victorious finish and he remained alive and even for some data is healthy, since later he also took part in all kinds of starts, but no more success.



In this state, Thomas was at the finish line

His victory in this controversial race was disputed, but everyone allegations of doping and other assistance head of the organizing committee of the Games rejected and declared Thomas Hicks the winner. All in all, that day off the track 18 people got off. One of the runners literally almost died after swallowing road dust. He started bleeding internally and only by a miracle turned out well. It seems that the words "sport is life" and "sport is survival" are on the same line