The first modern Olympic marathon, Marathon to Athens
Seventeen athletes from five nations run about 40 km from Marathon to the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens. The Greek water-carrier Spyridon Louis wins in 2:58:50, more than seven minutes clear. The event exists because the French philologist Michel Breal proposed a race commemorating the Pheidippides legend for the revived Games. It is the invention of the marathon as a sport, and its distance is neither ancient nor standard.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- Marathon and the Tumulus of the Athenians · site · Greece
- Spyridon Louis · person · Greece · not located
- Pheidippides · person · Greece · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent. This is the standing of the weakest source, not an average.
Marathon, Men — 1908 Olympic Games, London
The 1908 Olympic marathon was run on 24 July 1908 from Windsor to the White City Stadium over 26 miles 385 yards, with 55 starters from 16 nations and 27 finishers; Dorando Pietri was disqualified and Johnny Hayes won. V55 verification basis: the Olympedia result page was identified through search and its substance read in summary; the database entry itself was not retrieved.
Olympedia · 1908-07-24 · Partly verified
https://www.olympedia.org/results/56369
Marathon — discipline page
The marathon distance is 42.195 km / 26 miles 385 yards, taken from the 1908 London Olympic course and set as the standard by the IAAF in 1921. V55 verification basis: worldathletics.org was refused by this session's network egress proxy, so the page was read only through attributed search summaries; the 1921 congress minute was not seen.
World Athletics · Partly verified
https://worldathletics.org/disciplines/road-running/marathon
Recorded on Marathon and the Tumulus of the Athenians
- Battle of Marathon
- Valerios Stais excavates the Tumulus of the Athenians
- The first modern Olympic marathon, Marathon to Athens
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.