Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics - Men's marathon

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Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics
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Dorando Pietri finishes the marathon.

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 (42.263 km). 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.

[edit] Medallists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Johnny Hayes United States (USA)	Charles Hefferon South Africa (RSA)	Joseph Forshaw United States (USA)

[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 winning time was 2'54:46.4 hours.

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	Johnny Hayes	United States	2'55:18.4
2	Charles Hefferon	South Africa	2'56:06.0
3	Joseph Forshaw	United States	2'57:10.4
4	Alton Welton	United States	2'59:44.4
5	William Wood	Canada	3'01:44.0
6	Frederick Simpson	Canada	3'04:28.2
7	Harry Lawson	Canada	3'06:47.2
8	Johan Svanberg	Sweden	3'07:50.8
9	Lewis Tewanima	United States	3'09:15.0
10	Kaale Nieminen	Finland	3'09:50.8
11	Jack Caffery	Canada	3'12:46.0
12	William Clarke	Great Britain	3'16:08.6
13	Ernest Barnes	Great Britain	3'17:30.8
14	Sydney Hatch	United States	3'17:52.4
15	Frederick Lord	Great Britain	3'19:08.8
16	William Goldsboro	Canada	3'20:07.0
17	James Beale	Great Britain	3'20:14.0
18	Arnošt Nejedlý	Bohemia	3'26:26.2
19	Georg Lind [1]	Russia	3'26:38.8
20	Willem Wakker	Netherlands	3'28:49.0
21	Gustaf Törnros	Sweden	3'30:20.8
22	George Goulding	Canada	3'33:26.4
23	Julius Jørgensen	Denmark	3'47:44.0
24	Arthur Burn	Canada	3'50:17.0
25	Emmerich Rath	Austria	3'50:30.4
26	Rudy Hansen	Denmark	3'53:15.0
27	George Lister	Canada	4'22:45.0
—	Dorando Pietri	Italy	Disqualified
—	Victor Aitken	Australasia	Did not finish
	Fred Appleby	Great Britain	Did not finish
	Henry Barrett	Great Britain	Did not finish
	George Blake	Australasia	Did not finish
	Umberto Blasi	Italy	Did not finish
	Wilhelmus Braams	Netherlands	Did not finish
	George Buff	Netherlands	Did not finish
	François Celis	Belgium	Did not finish
	Edward Cotter	Canada	Did not finish
	Alexander Duncan	Great Britain	Did not finish
	Thomas Jack	Great Britain	Did not finish
	Georgios Koulouberdas	Greece	Did not finish
	Anastasios Koutoulakis	Greece	Did not finish
	Seth Landqvist	Sweden	Did not finish
	Johan Lindqvist	Sweden	Did not finish
	Tom Longboat	Canada	Did not finish
	Joseph Lynch	Australasia	Did not finish
	James Mitchell-Baker	South Africa	Did not finish
	Tom Morrissey	United States	Did not finish
	Frederick Noseworthy	Canada	Did not finish
	Jack Price	Great Britain	Did not finish
	Fritz Reiser	Germany	Did not finish
	Michael Ryan	United States	Did not finish
	John Tait	Canada	Did not finish
	Frederick Thompson	Great Britain	Did not finish
	Arie Vosbergen	Netherlands	Did not finish
	Albert Wyatt	Great Britain	Did not finish
—	Thure Bergvall	Sweden	Did not start
	Augusto Cocca	Italy	Did not start
	Felix Kwieton	Austria	Did not start
	James J. Lee	United States	Did not start
	Frederick Lorz	United States	Did not start
	Ivar Lundberg	Sweden	Did not start
	L. Merenyi	Hungary	Did not start
	A. B. Mole	South Africa	Did not start
	Hermann Müller	Germany	Did not start
	Paul Nettelbeck	Germany	Did not start
	James W. O'Mara	United States	Did not start
	Georg Peterson	Sweden	Did not start
	C. E. Stevens	South Africa	Did not start
	Samuel Stevenson	Great Britain	Did not start
	W. F. Theunissen	Netherlands	Did not start
	Alexander Thibeau	United States	Did not start
	Vincent	South Africa	Did not start
	W. Wood	United States	Did not start

[edit] Notes

1. ^ 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].