The 1904 Olympic Marathon: Wild Dogs, Poison, Cheaters, and Napping
By: Meghan Gause
Tags: Race, History, Olympics, America, Weird

The 1904 Olympic Marathon: Wild Dogs, Poison, Cheaters, and Napping

The strangest Olympic marathon in history

Photo by Isaac Wendland on Unsplash

In 1904, St. Louis hosted the Olympic Games as part of the World’s Fair. It would soon be named the most bizarre Olympic event ever.

Aside from the Anthropology days, where “savages” from other countries were set up in primal zoo-like habitats for viewing, the actual Olympic games were a massive failure.

The photo was taken from 1904, showing a “human zoo.”

With so many different languages, and lack of understanding, and poor organization, the competitions were strewn with chaos.

The photo was taken in 1904 of the “savages” preforming for white spectators

Pierre de Coubertin French, and the founder of the International Olympic Committee, took notice of the events and said: “As for that outrageous charade, it will, of course, lose its appeal when black men, red men, and yellow men learn to run, jump and throw, and leave the white men behind them.”

The marathon was composed of the most odd cast of competitors. Some were actual athletes who have won medals racing; some were volunteers, and others were randoms who were picked from other counties. There were ten Greeks who had never run a marathon, two men from a tribe in South Africa who arrived in St. Louis to be a part of the South African World’s Fair exhibit.

The photo was taken in 1904 “marathon runners.”

The track itself was just over 28 miles and a treacherous one. Not only were there 300-foot foothills, and weather pushing into the hundreds, they also had to dodge city traffic. Water was only available at the 6-mile mark and 12-mile mark.

The gun went off, and the 32 runners darted out. Less then half would make.it to he finish.

The runners gone wild

William Garcia was a competitor who almost died after the insane amount of dust coated his esophagus and tore his stomach lining.

Another runner, John Lordon, began to puke uncontrollably from the heat and forfeited.

Len Tau, was a runner from South Africa; he was chased nearly a mile off course by rabid street dogs.

The runner named Félix Carvajal stopped mid-race, numerous times, to chat with bystanders. The last time he stopped was to snack on a few apples, which turned his stomach due to being rotten. So he took a nap.

Sam Mellor was leading, but stopped running due to cramps.

Fred Lorz was the first in the lead after the gun went off, but he also suffered cramps and hitched a ride with some folks in a car. At least he waved at his competitors, right?

Oddly enough, after he rode for 11 miles, he passed the finish line at a little over 3-hours. Alice Roosevelt, the 20-year-old daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt, was about to award him the gold medal when many people called him a cheat.

Hicks was given a dose (by his handlers)of strychnine and egg whites, which was the first recorded instance of drug use in the modern Olympics. He would later start hallucinating just before the finish line – he would also be the winner of that race. Hicks also lost 8-lbs during the run.