The Olympic first marathon champion

The Olympic Games started in ancient Greece about 776 BC. Thousands of spectators would gather in the main stadium to watch a single sporting event, the 200 meters. Only men were allowed to compete in the Games while women were not allowed even as spectators. Competitors were naked.  The very first Olympic champion was a cook named Coroebus, who won the “stadion” or footrace, while a famous wrestler named Milo (as in Milo Marathon) trained by carrying a calf everyday. As the calf grew heavier, his muscles got stronger. The Games were held every four years for over 1,000 years. But the Games lost its reputation, especially after AD67 when Roman emperor Nero, who competed personally in a chariot race and was declared winner even though he fell from his chariot. In AD 393, Roman Emperor Theodosius I, a Christian, abolished the Games because of its pagan influences. It would be another 1,500 years before the Games were revived. In 1896, the first modern Olympics were held in Athens after it was revived by a young Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin. The Games was participated by 14 countries with 241 athletes competing in  9 sports (43 events).  Host Greece won 47 medals to emerged champion.

Spiridon Louis

The United States dominated track and field, winning 9 of the first 11 events despite the disadvantage of having arrived just before the start of the Games, following a long boat trip.  After failing to win any athletics medal, the Greeks pinned their hopes on the  last event, the marathon. This event was special to the Greeks as it reminded them of the Greek  messenger Pheidippides, who ran from the City of Marathon to Athens to announce  a victory against the Persians before he dropped dead of exhaustion.  Although the Greeks selected their marathoners, they ran the distance in trial races (that’s homecourt advantage and familiarity of the route). Their top bet was Spiridon Louis, a 24-year old shepherd who ran in shoes donated by his village.  Inexperience took its toll as several runners set a fast pace. The early leader dropped out after 32km while the second placed runner collapsed at the 36-km mark, leaving Louis to enter the stadium a full seven minutes ahead of his nearest rival in 2:58:50.  More than 100,000 people cheer wildly even as crown Prince Constantine and his brother Prince George, rushed  down from the Royal box and ran with Louis to the finish line. There  were 17 starters , 13 were Greek.  Another Greek, Kharilaos Vasilakos, finished second in 3:06:03 while third placer was Hungarian Gyula Kellner (the most experienced). Louis became a national hero and his gifts included free groceries, free haircut for life, jewelry and a sewing machine. The King, for his part,  gave him a new horse and cart for his water-carrying business. By the way, Vasilakos won the first marathon in history, the Greek Trial on the Marathon to Athens route (40km) on March 10, 1896.  The following month, he ran the Olympic marathon.  The day after the race, a  Greek woman, Stamata Revithi, ran the same course.  Since women were not allowed  to compete she was forbidden to enter the stadium on completing the run.

Did you know?  

EMIL ZATOPEK made headlines when he won three gold medals in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.  He won in the 5,000m, 10,000m and the marathon. Earlier, in the 1948 London Olympics, he won gold in the 10,000m and silver in the 5,000m.  Running his first marathon in Helsinki, Zatopek was unsure of his pace and asked world record holder Jim Peters of Great Britain, if the pace was too fast.  Peters wanted to toy with Zatopek and trick him into burning himself out, so he replied that the pace was too slow.  Zatopek took off and never looked back, winning the race in his first attempt the distance.  Six weeks before the 1956 Olympics, Emil suffered a hernia while training (with his wife on his shoulder) but still finished sixth in the marathon.