page_title: Johnny Hayes
section_title: 1908 Olympic victory
hierarchical_section_title: Johnny Hayes / 1908 Olympic victory
context_page_description: John Joseph "Johnny" Hayes was an American athlete, a member of the Irish American Athletic Club, and winner of the marathon race at the 1908 Summer Olympics. Hayes' Olympic victory contributed to the early growth of long-distance running and marathoning in the United States. He was also the first man to win a marathon at the now official standard distance of 26 miles 385 yards when Olympic officials lengthened the distance to put the finish line in front of the Royal Box.
context_section_description: At the race itself, Dorando Pietri from Italy was the first to enter the stadium. But Pietri had depleted himself to open a more than 10 minute lead over the field, and was suffering extreme fatigue and dehydration. When he entered the stadium, he took the wrong path and when umpires redirected him, he fell down for the first time. He got up with their help, in front of 75,000 spectators.
  Pietri fell four more times, and each time the umpires helped him up. He managed to finish the race first, with a time of 2h 54min 46s. During all these stumbles, and the direct aid from the officials, Hayes had now entered the stadium, finishing the race second, with a time of 2h 55min 18s.
  Pietri was disqualified after the US officials filed a protest. Despite the official result, Pietri achieved much more fame than Hayes, when Queen Alexandra awarded him a special silver cup.
  All of the Olympic officials were British, and the Pietri incident joined a list of other controversial calls in the 1908 Olympics, prompting the International Olympic Committee to start appointing judges from a wide variety of countries instead of only the host country.
  After the dramatic Olympic battle between Pietri and Hayes, public interest was such that a match race was organized by professional promoters in November, 1908 at Madison Square Garden. The race was won by Pietri by 75 yards. A second match race was held on March 15, 1909 and again Pietri won. Both Pietri and Hayes turned professional after the Olympics, and achieved great fame.
  Hayes was a trainer for the US 1912 Olympic team. He later taught physical education and was a food broker. Johnny Hayes died in Englewood, New Jersey.
  The Shore Athletic Club of New Jersey (Shore AC) holds the Johnny Hayes collection as lifetime trustees. Included in the collection are numerous trophies as well as the 1908 Olympic gold medal for the marathon. This represents the first Olympic gold medal to be won at the modern marathon distance of 26 miles, 385 yards.
  Johnny Hayes was a guest on the television show "I've Got A Secret" as one of five former Olympic champions which aired October 13, 1954.
  In 2002, three statues honoring Olympic champions with links to Nenagh, Matt McGrath, Johnny Hayes and Bob Tisdall, were unveiled in front of the Nenagh Courthouse.
caption: Hayes running in the White Stadium near the finish line
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