Tuesday August 30, 1904, 3:02 p.m. On the cinder track of Francis Field stadium, David R. Francis, the director of the Saint-Louis World’s Fair, is preparing to start the marathon of the 1904 Olympic Games.
Pistol pointed towards the sky, thirty-two runners lined up on the starting line are under his orders. The mercury is 32°C and, facing these runners, lies a course of around forty kilometers comprising seven hills and a single water supply point. Charles JP Lucas, the official reporter of the 1904 Olympic Games, ensures that all conditions are met for us to attend the race “the hardest thing a human being has ever been asked to run”.
Was this done on purpose? No doubt. James Edward Sullivan, director of the Games organizing committee, wants to take advantage of this marathon to study the resistance of the human body when subjected to an advanced state of dehydration.
To complete his experiment, Sullivan pushed all the sliders to the extreme. A start given in the afternoon in stifling heat, a humidity level exceeding 90%, a hilly route and a simple well, at the nineteenth kilometer. On the starting line, no runner is aware of being a test subject.
Dusty roads claim first victims
The pistol shot given by David R. Francis frees the athletes. The most dangerous race in the history of the Games is underway. After four laps of the stadium, the peloton of runners heads west, towards a loop traced in the Missouri countryside. For John Lordan, winner of the prestigious Boston Marathon in 1903, the effort was already too much. Seized with vomiting from the first minutes of the race, he gave up continuing. One of the favorites is already down.
Michael Spring, outgoing winner of the Boston Marathon, suffered the same fate a few kilometers further. The dirt roads taken and the large cloud of dust raised by the following cars put a strain on the lungs.
William Garcia, an American runner from San Francisco, was found dying on the side of the road, the victim of internal bleeding because the dust he inhaled was so irritating. The first aid provided by the doctors undoubtedly saved his life. Halfway through the race, the leader of the race, Samuel Mellor, in turn threw in the towel. The extreme conditions in which the athletes run have claimed a new victim.
Lack of supply weakens organisms
When they do not experience difficulty breathing on these endless dirt roads, the runners pay for the deprivation of water and food desired by the organizers. Dehydrated and devoid of all energy, many athletes give up when Félix Carvajal manages to steal two peaches from a reporter.
This little guy from Cuba, always smiling in front of the spectators, has come a long way to appear at the Saint-Louis Games. After having managed to finance his trip by achieving feats in running, he squandered all his savings in New Orleans, ruined by gambling. Finishing his journey to Saint-Louis by hitchhiking, the little Cuban runner no longer had a single penny to pay for sports clothing.
Street shoes on his feet and pants cut into shorts to feel more comfortable, Félix Carvajal was in the top positions, until the fruit he consumed caused him nasty stomach cramps. Forced to stop to relieve the pain, he resumed his journey and finished the event at the end of the effort, preceded by four runners.
One takes the car, the other ingests rat poison
The first to arrive at the finish line was the American Frederick Lorz, three hours and thirteen minutes after the start. Like half of the competitors, he too gave up during the event and completed a large part of the course by car, collected by his trainer. But unlike the others, Frédéric Lorz started running again. Completing the last kilometers on foot, he entered Francis Field stadium first, applauded by the crowd and honored with an olive wreath. His quarter of an hour of glory ended abruptly when his compatriot Thomas Hicks in turn entered the enclosure, followed by the opening car. The deception is revealed and Frederick Lorz, a good joker, advocates joking rather than a real attempt at cheating.
Thomas Hicks, the real winner after three hours and twenty-eight minutes of effort (the slowest marathon winner in the history of the Games), is not exempt from all reproach either. On the verge of throwing in the towel eleven kilometers from the finish, he managed to complete the marathon thanks to a mixture containing strychnine, a poison present in rat poison which, ingested in small doses, helps stimulate the nervous system. This is the first proven case of doping in Olympic history.
In total, fourteen of the thirty-two runners present at the start completed the ‘strangest race in history’.
Receiving two doses in the last kilometers, Thomas Hicks finished his journey on the verge of collapse, completely dehydrated and having lost four kilos of body weight. Supported by assistants in the final lap of the track, he is carried in the last meters while he waves his legs in the air to mime the race. His victory is questionable, it will remain official.
Albert Corey finished second and Arthur Newton took bronze. The first mentioned is a Frenchman who left to live in the United States. A native of Burgundy and a member of the Chicago Athletic Club, Albert Corey competed under American colors, even if he did not officially hold nationality. In 2021, important historical work carried out by Clément Genty made it possible to reallocate this medal to France.
In total, fourteen of the thirty-two runners present at the start completed the ‘strangest race in history’according to the terms used today by the Olympic Committee. Among these athletes, it is impossible not to mention the presence of Len Taunyane and Jan Mashiani, the first two black Africans to participate in the Olympic Games. Both from the Tswana people, living in South Africa, they finished ninth and twelfth respectively.
The first could have legitimately claimed better, if he had not been forced to make a two-kilometer detour to escape an aggressive stray dog. A chaotic scenario from the first to the last meter of the race, pushing the organizers to question the presence of the marathon on the Olympic program. The test was controversial for a time, but never abandoned.
