Michel Breal came up with the idea for a marathon race, which he sought to include in the first modern Olympic Games, which were held in Athens in 1896. This concept was strongly endorsed by both Pierre de Coubertin, the originator of the modern Olympics, and the Greeks. The Marathon was one of four original sports events in which men's teams competed. Women's games did not begin until 1912. In fact, the first official marathon took place only three years after the first modern Olympics, in the annual Athens Classic Marathon. Aristides Leventis and his partner Georgios Lakkotrypis were the winners with a time of 2:45. But even before this event, several other runners had attempted the race over various distances. It was apparently quite an ordeal to be allowed to compete in this race! Until 1947, when it was replaced by the current 42-kilometer (26 miles) course, the distance used for the Marathon was actually 31 miles and 40 yards. This was because ancient Greek culture regarded males as being composed of 300 millimeters of blood, so that dividing 80 by 300 gives us approximately 1/8, which when multiplied by 3,000 gives us about 4 miles as opposed to the standard 3 miles. However, starting in 1947, the length of the race has been standardized at 26 miles plus 0.5 mile for women and 1 mile for men.