Great Moments In Sporting History (1)
Published by Rick on Friday, April 22, 2011.
Supervision of the early Olympic marathons was a trifle lax. The winner of the 1900 event in Paris, an enterprising local baker's delivery boy named Michel Theato, used his knowledge of the city geography to take advantage of a few shortcuts down back alleys and side streets.
Four years later at the St. Louis Olympics, the marathon was held on a grueling course on a hot afternoon, and only fourteen of the original thirty-two starters made it to the finish, led by an uncannily fresh-looking American, Fred Lorz. He was just about to accept his gold medal on the winner's podium when word got around that he had hitched a lift from a passing motorist who had dropped him just outside the stadium after conveying him the last eleven miles. Controversially, his gold medal went to Thomas Hicks, whose trainers had given him a mixture of brandy and strychnine keep him going.
Four years later at the St. Louis Olympics, the marathon was held on a grueling course on a hot afternoon, and only fourteen of the original thirty-two starters made it to the finish, led by an uncannily fresh-looking American, Fred Lorz. He was just about to accept his gold medal on the winner's podium when word got around that he had hitched a lift from a passing motorist who had dropped him just outside the stadium after conveying him the last eleven miles. Controversially, his gold medal went to Thomas Hicks, whose trainers had given him a mixture of brandy and strychnine keep him going.
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