Running a marathon was never crazier or harder than during the 1904 St Louis Olympics

This is bonkers!

- They believed water hindered performance so they drank brandy and rat poison instead

- The 'winner' was a man who gave up, got a lift off his coach towards the finish, then his car broke down and he decided to cross the line for a laugh

- The official winner was so high on drugs he couldn't walk straight and was unable to collect his medal

- The best runner in the race got chased off the course by wild Dogs

- One guy turned up in full length leggings and a spectator had to lend him a pair of scissors to cut the bottom half off

- The dust was so bad it almost killed half of the competitors

- They held it at the hottest time of day in the middle of Summer

- The organiser himself thought it was a stupid event and shouldn't take place again

Thanks for sharing, this is hilarious!

It gets worse!

Apparently there was a Cuban guy who lived in poverty and received donations from his fellow countrymen to travel, gambled it all away and had to hitchhike 650 miles to get there.

During the race, he stopped multiple times to chat with the spectators, at one point being given some peaches. He also supposedly picked some apples from a nearby farm which upset his stomach so he took a nap to recover. Incredibly, he went on to finish 4th!

Also, the guy who won was in a worse state than I previously thought. He'd begged his 'assistants' to let him stop but they wouldn't allow it, he was rendered unconscious by the doses of rat poison they'd been giving him and had to be dragged across the finish line. It took them an hour to revive him.

Only 14 of the 32 competitors finished.

Notably, this was the first olympic event to ever feature black africans. The finished 9th and 12th and one of them was the aforementioned runner to be chased off course by wild dogs.

Great read

Jon Bois from SB Nation did a fantastic video covering this race a few years ago. It was super interesting (to me at least).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4AhABManTw

You can still run the best approximation of this course. Best to do in the daytime in the middle of the STL summer.

https://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/15962924

You are referring to it as rat poisoning. Strychnine was an over-the-counter ailment medication for humans until about 50 years ago. Strychnine was used for hundreds of years. Strychnine is now considered a P.E.D. As is the case with any drug, take too much and it will kill you.

Stuff of Legends !!!

Thanks for the read.

I do think that today drink and food should not be allowed to be taken by the competitors during a distance running race. It may sound strange but the race should be about a test of your own endurance, and talking on food and drink during the competition goes against that concept. When people take on all those energy gels and carbo drinks during a marathon, they are preventing/delaying the glycogen depletion that naturally happens during the race. This allows people to run faster and they don't have to judge their pace as much .

It would be good idea for the sport to scrap the current road-race records and to only count races where food and drink are not given out during the race as being record eligible.

change of rules needed today wrote:

Thanks for the read.

I do think that today drink and food should not be allowed to be taken by the competitors during a distance running race. It may sound strange but the race should be about a test of your own endurance, and talking on food and drink during the competition goes against that concept. When people take on all those energy gels and carbo drinks during a marathon, they are preventing/delaying the glycogen depletion that naturally happens during the race. This allows people to run faster and they don't have to judge their pace as much .

It would be good idea for the sport to scrap the current road-race records and to only count races where food and drink are not given out during the race as being record eligible.

You sound like a lot of fun

If i told this in a bar. No one would believe me!

Rocket Mann wrote:

Jon Bois from SB Nation did a fantastic video covering this race a few years ago. It was super interesting (to me at least).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4AhABManTw

Was just about to post that in here. He consistently makes some of the best and most high effort content anywhere on YouTube and even beyond.

There's a terrific book about the 1908 Olympic marathon: amazon.com/gp/product/0312641001/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i4

thanks a lot for posting! Back in college I remember reading an essay on the St. Louis games "The Farcical Olympics", basically a glorified circus offshoot of the World's Fair similar to the 1900 Paris Olympics. these games put the Olympic movement in doubt, but the consensus was that the 1906 Athens game in a shorter format helped save the integrity of the games...

here is another summary of a few of the other events besides the marathon in the top of the article--

http://olympics.ballparks.com/1904St.Louis/index.htm

change of rules needed today wrote:

Thanks for the read.

I do think that today drink and food should not be allowed to be taken by the competitors during a distance running race. It may sound strange but the race should be about a test of your own endurance, and talking on food and drink during the competition goes against that concept. When people take on all those energy gels and carbo drinks during a marathon, they are preventing/delaying the glycogen depletion that naturally happens during the race. This allows people to run faster and they don't have to judge their pace as much .

It would be good idea for the sport to scrap the current road-race records and to only count races where food and drink are not given out during the race as being record eligible.

I like this idea but I think it would be pretty dangerous. People end up in the medical tent enough as is. Insurance and medical costs would go up. You might save on gatorade and bananas though!

Supposedly Phidipides did it, but also supposedly he died.

Eight pounds isn't too bad. I've seen double that in a two hour practice. Obviously a lot bigger guys tho. All water weight. That is a crazy story tho. Love the video