April 10, 1896: The 1st Marathon Race

Spyridon Louis

April 10, 1896: The first marathon race is held, as part of the first modern Olympic Games, in Athens, Greece.

It celebrated the Battle of Marathon, on September 10, 490 BC, when a united army from several Greek city-states defeated a far larger force from the Persian Empire, ending that empire's best chance at conquering Greece.

Legend has it that a courier named Pheidippides ran from Marathon all the way back to Athens, and told the governing archons, "Joy, we win!" Or, depending on your translation, "Rejoice, we conquer!" And then he dropped dead. September 10 is at the end of Summer, and Greece is in the Mediterranean. Whether or not Pheidippides was just a courier, or a soldier wearing armor for the entire run, depends on who's telling the story.

The distance from Marathon to Athens is about 25 miles, and a statue of Pheidippides now stands on the highway between the cities, at about the halfway mark. At the 1908 Olympics in London, the race started at Windsor Castle, home of King Edward VII, and ended at the King's box at the Shepherd's Bush Stadium in West London. That distance was 26 miles, 385 yards, and that has been the official distance for marathon races ever since.

These days, several American cities have marathons, including New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles. But Boston was the 1st city to run one regularly, starting in 1897, about a year after the Athens Olympics. They hold it annually on the 3rd Monday in April, which is celebrated as Patriots Day in New England, to celebrate the Battle of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775.

The 1st modern Olympic Games, in Athens, Greece in 1896, were a smashing success. Not least because the marathon was won by a Greek, Spyridon Louis, who became, and perhaps remains, his nation's greatest sporting hero.

For much of the race, it was led by Edwin Flack, who had already won the 800 meters and the 1,500 meters. Word was telegraphed ahead to the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens that Flack led. But Louis took the lead, and this was announced to the stadium. A chant went up: "Hellene! Hellene!" (A Greek! A Greek!)

When Louis entered the stadium, he was joined for the final lap by Crown Prince Constantine and his brother Prince George. His winning name 2 hours, 58 minutes, 50 seconds. He was taken to meet the Princes' father, King George I, who enthusiastically shook his hand. For the rest of his life, he received gifts ranging from jewelry to livestock to a lifelong free shave at a barbershop. He lived until 1940. The stadium Athens built for the 2004 Olympics was named for him.

The 1896 stadium, an update of one that was built in 144 BC, still stands, and has been refurbished, and was used for the archery competitions when Athens hosted the Games again in 2004. It seats about 60,000.

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April 10, 1896 was a Friday. There were no scores on this historic day: The baseball season didn't start for another 6 days, and there was no other professional team sport in America at that point.