In the first Olympics of 1904, the men’s marathon first place finisher completed the race in a car and was disqualified. The second place finisher was carried to the finish line by his trainers, and the fourth finisher took a detour to eat during the race.

Frederick Lorz, who finished first with the help of a car and Andarín Carvajal who ran the marathon wearing street clothes and even took a nap in between. Image Credit: Wikipedia, Wikipedia

The men’s marathon in the 1904 Olympic Games might have been one of the strangest races in history. It was more of a comedy show than a serious event. Only a few of the runners in the marathon had previous experience. The other participants were “oddities.” There were 10 Greeks who had never run a marathon, two belonged to the Tsuana tribe of South Africa and arrived barefoot to the race, and one was a Cuban mailman who wore street clothing to the race.

That was not all. The first to complete the race was American runner Fred Lorz. Apparently, Lorz had dropped out of the race after nine miles and then hitch-hiked in a car. When the car broke down at the 19th mile, he jogged to the finish line. He was banned from the competition for life

The second to arrive, and the champion, was Thomas Hicks. Ten miles from the finish line, he almost gave up but his trainers urged him to continue. He was given several doses of strychnine, a common rat poison, to help get him to the end of the race. When he reached the stadium, his trainers and supporters who carried him to the finish line! Even though he got the gold medal that time, he never ran professionally again.

Andarín Carvajal, a Cuban postman, ran the race in street clothes. He had not eaten in 40 hours and took a detour into an apple orchard during the race. He ate some rotten apples that gave him stomach cramps. Despite falling ill, he managed to finish in the fourth place!