The 1904 Olympic Marathon: The Most Disastrous Race in History Where the Winner Rode in a Car

The 1904 Summer Olympics were held in St. Louis, Missouri as a sideshow to the World's Fair, and the marathon became the most chaotic, bizarre, and dangerous footrace ever run. Thirty-two men lined up to run 24.85 miles on dusty roads in 90-degree heat with massive humidity. There were only two water stops for the entire course. Cars, delivery wagons, and people on horseback kicked up clouds of dust that choked the runners. What followed was absolute madness.Fred Lorz crossed the finish line first to thunderous applause and was about to receive his gold medal when officials discovered he'd ridden in a car for 11 miles of the race. Thomas Hicks, the actual winner, was so delirious from strychnine and brandy his handlers fed him as performance enhancers that he nearly died and had to be carried across the finish line. Felix Carvajal, a Cuban mailman who hitchhiked to St. Louis, ran in street clothes and dress shoes after losing his money in a dice game, stopped mid-race to eat apples from an orchard, got stomach cramps, took a nap, and still finished fourth. One runner was chased a mile off course by aggressive dogs. Several collapsed and were hospitalized. Nine of the 32 starters didn't finish at all.Join us as we explore the catastrophically mismanaged 1904 Olympic Marathon, from the racist "Anthropology Days" that accompanied it to the lack of medical support, the performance-enhancing drugs that were perfectly legal, and the absurd sequence of disasters that made this race legendary for all the wrong reasons. It was a miracle anyone survived.Keywords: 1904 Olympics, 1904 Olympic Marathon, St. Louis Olympics, Fred Lorz, Thomas Hicks, worst Olympic race, chaotic marathon, Olympic history, 1904 World's Fair, disastrous marathon, Olympic cheating, early Olympics, marathon history, bizarre sports history, St. Louis 1904