Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's marathon
| Men's marathon at the Games of the IV Olympiad |
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 Dorando Pietri finishes the marathon |
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| Venue | London | |||||||||
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| Dates | July 24 | |||||||||
| Competitors | 27 from 11 nations | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
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| «1904 | 1912» | |||||||||
| Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics  |
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|---|---|---|
| Track events | ||
| 100 m | men | |
| 200 m | men | |
| 400 m | men | |
| 800 m | men | |
| 1500 m | men | |
| 5 miles | men | |
| 110 m hurdles | men | |
| 400 m hurdles | men | |
| 3200 m steeplechase | men | |
| Medley relay | men | |
| 3 mile team race | men | |
| Road events | ||
| Marathon | men | |
| 3500 m walk | men | |
| 10 mile walk | men | |
| Field events | ||
| Long jump | men | |
| Triple jump | men | |
| High jump | men | |
| Pole vault | men | |
| Standing long jump | men | |
| Standing high jump | men | |
| Shot put | men | |
| Discus throw | men | |
| Hammer throw | men | |
| Javelin throw | men | |
| Greek discus | men | |
| Freestyle javelin | men | |
The men's marathon race was held at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London. The race was held on July 24, 1908.
The distance was the now-standard length of 26 miles, 385 yards (42 195 m). 75 competitors entered. 55 runners from 16 nations began the race, with 27 athletes (representing 11 nations) finishing.
The most famous incident of the Games came at the end of the event. It occurred when the first runner to enter the stadium, Dorando Pietri of Italy, collapsed several times and ran the wrong way. Not far from the finish-line, two of the officials took him by the arms, and brought him to the line. As a consequence, after crossing the line he was disqualified. The medal went to American Johnny Hayes who was second over the line, but the glory went to Pietri. Since he himself had not been responsible for his disqualification Queen Alexandra the next day awarded him a gold cup in recognition of his achievement.
Marathons became an annual event in London following the 1908 Olympics. The Polytechnic Marathon was held each year until 1996.
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[edit] Records
These were the standing world and Olympic records (in hours) prior to the 1908 Summer Olympics.
| World Record | none | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olympic Record | 2:58:50(*) |  Spiridon Louis |
Athens (GRE) | April 10, 1896 (NS) |
| 2:51:23.6(**) |  William Sherring |
Athens (GRE) | May 1, 1906 (NS) |
(*) distance 40.0 km
(**) distance 41.86 km
Johnny Hayes set a new Olympic record with 2:55:18.4 hours.
[edit] Results
27 runners finished the marathon legally, though Dorando Pietri's (disqualified) performance was perhaps the most applauded; his finishing time was 2:54:46.4 hours, half a minute ahead of the winner.
L. Merenyi [edit] Notes
- ^ Georg Lind was an Estonian living in London.
[edit] Sources
- Official Report of the Games of the IV Olympiad (1908).
- De Wael, Herman. Herman's Full Olympians: "Athletics 1908". Accessed 30 March 2006. Available electronically at [1].
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