7 Things about Olympic Marathons,

1. The name “marathon” originates from the greek legend of pheidippides. Legend has it, pheidippides ran from marathon to athens, a distance od 39km.

2. Abebe bikila (eth) won gold at rome 1960. Running the whole marathon barefoot he was the first person to win to olympic marathons.

3. Just 17 runners took part in the first olympic marathon at athens 1896 london 2012 saw 105 men and 118 women complete in their respective races.

4. At helsinki 1952 Emil Zatopek (CZE) wow the 5,000m, 10,000m and marathon races he is the only athlete who has a achieved this feat.

5. Vanderlei De Lima (BRA) was disrupted suring the athens 2004 marathon, but still won bronze, he was awarded the pierre de coubetin medal for his demonstration of fair play and olympic values.

6. Women’s marathon was introduced in 1984. Joan benoit won gold, her time would have won every men’s marathon up to London 1948.

7. Marathon runners used to stop at water station to rehydrate stockholm 1912 saw kennedy mcarthur (RSA) run past the last station & win as a result.

7 Things About… Olympic Marathons