Athletics at the 1896 Summer Olympics - Men's marathon

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Marathon runners on the road to Athens

The men's marathon event was a special race invented as part of the Athletics at the 1896 Summer Olympics programme. Michel Bréal originated the idea of a race from the city of Marathon to Athens, taking inspiration from the legend of Pheidippides. The first such marathon race was a Greek national competition that served as a qualifier for the Olympic marathon; the qualifier was won by Kharilaos Vasilakos. The length of the marathon in 1896 was 40 kilometres.

25 athletes traveled to Marathon for the race from there to Athens, though only 17 actually began the race. Just as in the 1500 metre race, Albin Lermusiaux took the lead early. Teddy Flack and Arthur Blake maintained the second and third places until Blake dropped out at 23 kilometres. At 32 kilometres, Lermusiaux dropped out as well, leaving Flack in the lead. That lead was not secure, however, as the Greek Spiridon Louis was making full use of his endurance to gain slowly on Flack.

Exhausted from trying to maintain his pace, Flack dropped out of the race with about 4 kilometres left. Louis was left alone at the front, finishing the 40 kilometre race in slightly less than 3 hours. Vasilakos finished second, followed closely by Spiridon Belokas and Gyula Kellner. Belokas's third-place finish was voided when it was discovered that he had covered part of the course by carriage.

[edit] Medallists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Spiridon Louis Greece	Kharilaos Vasilakos Greece	Gyula Kellner Hungary

[edit] Results

Spiridon Louis entering the stadium at the end of the marathon

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Spiridon Louis	Greece	2:58:50
2	Kharilaos Vasilakos	Greece	3:06:03
3	Gyula Kellner	Hungary	3:06:35
4	Ioannis Vrettos	Greece	Unknown
5	Eleitherios Papasimeon	Greece	Unknown
6	Dimitrios Deligiannis	Greece	Unknown
7	Evangelos Gerakeris	Greece	Unknown
8	Stamatios Masouris	Greece	Unknown
9	Sokratis Lagoudakis	France	Unknown
–	Teddy Flack	Australia	Retired at 37 km
	Albin Lermusiaux	France	Retired at 32 km
	Ioannis Lavrentis	Greece	Retired at 24 km
	Georgios Grigoriou	Greece	Retired at 24 km
	Ilias Kafetzis	Greece	Retired at 9 km
	Dimitrios Khristopoulos	Greece	Did not finish
	Arthur Blake	United States	Did not finish
–	Spiridon Belokas	Greece	Disqualified (3:06:30)

[edit] References

Lampros, S.P.; Polites, N.G.; De Coubertin, Pierre; Philemon, P.J.; & Anninos, C. (1897). The Olympic Games: BC 776 – AD 1896. Athens: Charles Beck. (Digitally available at AAFLA.org)
Mallon, Bill; & Widlund, Ture (1998). The 1896 Olympic Games. Results for All Competitors in All Events, with Commentary. Jefferson: McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0379-9. (Excerpt available at AAFLA.org)
Smith, Michael Llewellyn (2004). Olympics in Athens 1896. The Invention of the Modern Olympic Games. London: Profile Books. ISBN 1-86197-342-X.