Olympics Marathon facts

While investigating facts about Olympics Marathon Trials and Olympics Marathon Winners, I found out little known, but curios details like:

The Japanese marathon runner Shizo Kanakuri lost consciousness while taking a break during the 1912 Olympic marathon in Stockholm. In 1967 the Swedes invited him to return and finish the race. His final time was 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes and 20.3 seconds.

how to qualify for the 2020 olympics marathon?

Alan Turing, WW2 codebreaker and father of modern computer science, was also a world-class distance runner of his time. He ran a 2:46 marathon in 1949 (2:36 won an olympic gold in 1948). His local running club discovered him when he overtook them repeatedly while out running alone for relaxation

What distance does a marathon runner cover at the olympics?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what is the distance of the marathon race in the olympics. Here are 50 of the best facts about Olympics Marathon Distance and Olympics Marathon Record I managed to collect.

american who won gold in the marathon at the 1972 olympics?

At the 1912 Olympics, a marathon runner quit and went home to Japan without telling officials and was considered a missing person in Sweden for 50 years. In 1966, he was invited to complete the marathon. His time: 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes and 20.379 seconds.
An Ethiopian Olympic runner couldn't find a comfortable pair of shoes, so he ran the 1960 Olympic Marathon in Rome barefoot, finished first, and set a new World Record.
Nike pulled a t-shirt that said "Boston Massacre" with a blood spatter pattern off the shelves after the Boston Marathon bombings. Another product they've had to recall was an ad featuring Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius with the caption "I am the bullet in the chamber."
The marathon of the 1904 Olympics had many bizarre events including someone driving to the finish line and pretending to win, someone winning by using rat poison as a stimulant, someone taking a nap and still finishing 4th, and someone being chased a mile off course by aggressive dogs.
During the 1904 summer Olympics marathon one runner hitched a ride, another was given rat poison and brandy as a stimulus, fourth place winner took a nap during the run, and two other runners were chased a mile by angry dogs
The winner of the marathon at the first modern Olympics (1896) stopped for a glass of wine at a local inn along the route
The 1904 Olympic marathon involved a runner who drove 11 miles to the finish line, a runner who was poisoned by his coaches, a runner who was chased by dogs for one mile, and a runner who ate a rotten apple, took a nap and still finished fourth.
At the 1912 Olympics, a marathon runner quit and went home to Japan without telling officials and was considered a missing person in Sweden for 50 years. In 1966, he was invited to complete the marathon. His time: 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes and 20.379 seconds.
The first modern Olympic Marathon was won by a Greek who stopped at a bar mid-race for a glass of wine

olympics marathon facts — What are the best facts about Olympics Marathon?

Olympics Marathon data charts

For your convenience take a look at Olympics Marathon figures with stats and charts presented as graphic.

olympics marathon fact data chart about Men's Olympic Marathon Times by Medal — Men's Olympic Marathon Times by Medal

olympics marathon fact data chart about Distribution of Qualifying Times for the 2020 US Women's Oly — Distribution of Qualifying Times for the 2020 US Women's Olympic Trials Marathon. 511 women qualified in 2020 (up over 246 in 2016), 25% of the field in the last qualifying minute

Why olympics marathon distance?

You can easily fact check why is the half marathon not in the olympics by examining the linked well-known sources.

During the 1912 Olympics, one of the Japanese athletes didn't notify race officials during a marathon, and technically didn't finish. He later completed it when notified of this in 1967, making his time at 54 y, 8 m, 6 d, 8:32:20.3.

During the 1904 Olympic Marathon, the winner drank brandy and rat poison, but was refused water. One competitor, wearing trousers and a long sleeve shirt, took a nap during the race, and finished in 4th. - source

Thomas Hicks ran the 1904 Olympic marathon while drinking a mix of strychnine, egg whites and brandy which made him hallucinate and become sick. His trainers had to carry him over the finish line but he was still declared the winner, with the slowest gold medal time in Olympic marathon history. - source

At the first Olympic marathon, the stopwatch from the start of the race had to be carried by bicycle all the way to the finish line before the first runners arrived. - source

When did marathon start in the olympics?

Alan Turing, the father of the computer, ran a 2.46 marathon, only 11 minutes slower than that year's olympic gold medal time

How to qualify for olympics marathon?

The first Olympic fatality occurred when Francisco Lázaro tried to run a marathon covered in animal fat (it was to prevent sunburn). Before the race, he had supposedly said: "Either I win or I die."

At the 1960 Olympics in Rome, a barefoot Ethopian marathon runner won the marathon and broke the world record.

After winning the first marathon at the 1896 Olympics, Spyridon Louis was offered anything he wanted by the King of Greece. He asked for a donkey cart to help him with his mineral water business.

The 1904 Olympic Marathon’s 1st place runner was disqualified for hitching a ride in a car, 2nd place was carried over the finish line by his trainers while doping on rat poison and brandy, 3rd place took a nap after eating rotten apples, and 5th place got chased for a mile by wild dogs.

Olympics marathon infographics

Beautiful visual representation of Olympics Marathon numbers and stats to get perspecive of the whole story.

olympics marathon fact infographic about Age vs Qualifying Time for US Women's 2020 Olympic Marathon — Age vs Qualifying Time for US Women's 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials

When are the olympics marathon trials?

About the marathon monks who run/walk a double olympic marathon (52.5 miles) each day for 100 consecutive days, in a quest for enlightenment.

Dutch marathon swimmer Maarten van der Weijden successfully battled Leukemia and made a comeback to win the Olympics Gold in 10 km open water. He has now raised 2.5 million Euro for cancer research by swimming 165 km in 55 hours.

Shizo Kanakuri has the record for the slowest time in the men's Olympic marathon: 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes, and 20.3 seconds. He disappeared in 1912 and was given a chance to finish in 1967. He said, "Along the way, I got married, had 6 children and 10 grandchildren."

The modern Marathon distance (26.2 mi) was changed from 24.85 mi during the 1908 London Olympics so that the finish line would be in front of the Royal Family's viewing box.

Alan Turing ran a marathon in 1947 in 2 hours and 46 minutes, only 11 minutes slower than the winner in the following year's Olympic Games.

How many marathoners go to the olympics?

Distance runner Emil Zátopek won three gold medals at the 1952 Summer Olympics in the 5000 and 10,000 meter, as well as his first marathon ever. In the latter, an opponent trying to exhaust him told him his pace was too slow, so Zátopek sped up en route to a new Olympic record.

Vanderlei de Lima of Brazil was leading the 2004 Athens Men's Olympic Marathon by 30 seconds when he was tackled by a protester, causing him to fall to third place. He was awarded the Pierre de Coubertin medal for his sportsmanship in the aftermath.

The distance of 26.2 miles for a marathon begun when Queen Alexandra requested that the race start on the lawn of Windsor Castle (so the royals could watch from the window) and finish in front of the royal box at the Olympic stadium—a distance that happened to be 26.2 miles

A Japanese Olympic marathon runner finished a race with a final time of 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes, and 20.3 seconds after being listed as missing for half a century by Olympic officials in Stockholm, Sweden

In 1952 Emil Zatopek became the only person to ever win gold in the 5000m, 10000m and the marathon all at one olympics. He had never even done a marathon before. He ended up setting the new olympic marathon record.

Felix Carvajal who despite stopping to eat apples then getting sick, napping, and chatting with people finished fourth in the 1904 Olympic marathon

The men's marathon at the 1904 Olympics was so poorly organized that only 14 out of 32 athletes finished the race, which was ran on dusty country roads in 90-degree weather

The winner of the marathon in the first modern day Olympics (held in 1896) stopped during the race for a glass of wine.

Winner of the first Olympic marathon in 1896 was Spyridon Louis, and finished in 2:58:50 seconds and the winner of the 2016 Olympic marathon was Eliud Kipchoge which finished in 2:08:44. That's 50 minutes improvement in 120 years.

The disastrous 1904 Olympics Marathon. It was ran in 90° heat, in terrible sandy conditions, with only dirty well water to drink. Several runners inhaled so much dust they almost died, and one man was fed exclusively strichnine (super-caffeine) and brandy by his coach, losing eight pounds.

Women were not allowed to run the Olympic marathon until 1984. Prior to that the longest distance for women was 1500m. For decades athletics organizers had believed longer distances were harmful to womens bodies.

Alan Turing was a fantastic marathon runner, running just shy of the 1948 Olympic standards.

This is our collection of basic interesting facts about Olympics Marathon. The fact lists are intended for research in school, for college students or just to feed your brain with new realities. Possible use cases are in quizzes, differences, riddles, homework facts legend, cover facts, and many more. Whatever your case, learn the truth of the matter why is Olympics Marathon so important!