1904 Olympics: Wild Stories, Controversy, and the Strangest Marathon in History

[00:00:00] So picture the Olympics that is nothing like we've seen today, where countries don't show up, athletes nearly die from the heat, cheating is rampant, people are walking up from the streets just to participate, and gold medals are won by a guy with a wooden leg. And this is just a little bit of what happened in the third Olympics in 1904 that took place in St. Louis, Missouri, that is notoriously known as one of the worst Olympics ever held.

[00:00:30] Join us today as we're going to dive into what happened in this Olympics and how it changed the Olympics forever. Today on Daily Sports History, let's go! Welcome to Daily Sports History, I'm Ethan Reese, your guide, because I once yelled, ball don't lie, during a wedding ceremony.

[00:00:58] So the first modern Olympics happened in Athens, Greece. It was a great story, bringing the world together in athletic competition and linking back to history of ancient Greece. And they made the decision to go to other places, not just hold it in Greece. So the next year they went to Paris, not too far away from Greece and Europe. And then they were like, OK, let's expand even more.

[00:01:24] And they started to take bids, like we see today where countries go to the Olympic Committee and say, hey, you should come here for the Olympic Games. And America really wanted to hold the Olympic Games. And in May of 1901, the International Olympic Committee awarded Chicago with the third Olympics to be held in 1904. The thing is, Chicago never held the Olympics because St. Louis stole it from them.

[00:01:53] See, St. Louis was going to put on a World's Fair in 1904. It was a big event celebrating the Louisiana Purchase. And the World's Fair is something that was going on back in the day that was hugely popular. It was an event where you built structures and were really trying to show off all the things that your city could do in showing off the technology and industrial advancements. Back in the day, it was a big deal.

[00:02:19] They started doing these World's Fairs back in the late 1700s and they would have them across the world. Probably the most noticeable one is the one they held in Paris because that one they built the Eiffel Tower for. And it's still there to this day. And there's structures all over these World's Fairs that continued to be part of history. And they still have them in 2016. They held one, but they're not as popular as they were back in the day.

[00:02:45] Back in the day, people would come from all around to see this because the technology they were showing off was so advanced from what they were used to at the time. And St. Louis was putting this on in 1904 and the Olympics was supposed to happen in 1904. And they didn't want to have these two huge international events going on at the same time. St. Louis thought the Olympics would eclipse what they were doing for the expo.

[00:03:09] So they basically bullied Chicago into giving them the Olympics, saying they would put on their own international sports competition at the same time. And they would pull the best athletes to represent in their competition, basically making the Olympics obsolete. And Chicago believed them. And they said, OK, you can have the Olympics. And the IOC actually approved it in 1902, the transfer from Chicago to St. Louis. It's not that long of a drive.

[00:03:40] And the IOC, 1903 was a very different travel time. And this would be the first Olympics held outside Europe. There's only been two at this point. It's not like it was crazy to have it outside there. But it was also away from where the condensed countries were. Now, Europe, there's lots of countries right there. And you can get 20 countries just in Europe to attend this event. But America, we're far away from Europe. Canada is pretty close. Mexico, you got some Caribbean countries as well.

[00:04:10] But it's harder to get to for many countries. And that was one of the biggest problems. Only 13 nations attended the 1904 Olympics compared to 26 in the 1900 Olympics in France. So it was interesting. But they wanted to make their mark. And one of the things they did that was unique is they decided to give out medals for the winners. Bronze for third, silver for second. And first place got gold. This is the first time they ever did that.

[00:04:40] A tradition that we still do to this day. And they actually designed the gold medals to look like the Greek god, Nike, in honor of the very first Olympics. And they included some important events that hadn't been done before. Like boxing, wrestling, and the decathlon. As well as some unique events such as the dumbbells and the tug of war. This was the first Olympics to feature women in one event. In one sport. And there was only six total.

[00:05:08] Out of almost 650 athletes. This Olympics was confusing. It started on July 1st. And went until November 23rd. Normally the Olympics last just a few weeks. At most. This is months. Going on during the World's Fair. So everyone was just confused. Because the World's Fair was doing some sports competitions that weren't part of the Olympics. So were you doing an Olympic event? Was it a World's Fair event? And it made nations not want to travel.

[00:05:37] And the travel was hard. The quickest you could get there was a five hour trip. Going from Europe to the edge of America. By steamboat. And then you still had to go from New York to St. Louis. Which is not an easy way to do it. You had to take train. So cars weren't big. There were not planes at the time. So you had to go by boat and train. And it was a tough, tough road. Just to get there.

[00:06:05] Which is why so many people did not even show up. They also had this thing called Anthropology Days. Where indigenous and other western people would compete in anthropologist contests. Which were racist. They were just racist. That's all. It was indigenous people, black people from Africa. That may not even just been from Africa. They may have just been former slaves. Were in these events and just viewed as zoo animals. Basically.

[00:06:34] It was very sad that this was acceptable at the time. But there was a lot of positive things that happened during this Olympics. Archie Han, who is known as the Milwaukee Meteor. He won gold in the 60 meter. Setting a world record with 7 seconds. In the 100 meter, the 200 meter. Showing off his explosive speed. Then Jim Lightbody would win gold in the 800, the 1500 and the steeplechase.

[00:06:59] And Harry Hillman would win gold in the 400, the 200 meter hurdles and the 400 meter hurdle. And Ray Ewing would sweep all the jumps. The high jump, the long jump and the triple jump. Which he did also in 1900. So this was not just these Americans winning because no one else was coming. He was also doing it four years ago. But they weren't the only ones. As German swimmer Emile Hanchu Rashid won three swimming golds.

[00:07:27] Matilda Scott Holloway became the first woman to win three golds. Dominating the archery competitions. Which is the only event that females were allowed to participate. Frank Coogler remains the only athlete to medal three different sports in one Olympic. He won medals in wrestling, weightlifting and tug of war. And George Page became the first black American to win an Olympic medal. Taking home bronze in two hurdle events.

[00:07:57] And interestingly enough, George Eisner, an Olympian, won six medals. Including three golds in gymnastics. What made this even more special is he did so on a wooden leg. And for years would hold the record for the most gold medals by a single Olympian. But the one event that stands out more than any other event in this Olympics was the marathon.

[00:08:22] As it is the worst marathon ever held in the history of marathons. See they held it in the middle of August when it's the hottest time in St. Louis. So it was already dangerous due to the heat. It was that day it was 90 degrees Fahrenheit. And they did so on unpaid roads. Dusty roads that were not roped off. Meaning there was still horse and bike car traffic going on.

[00:08:51] Kicking up dust as these runners ran. And there was no regulations. And as an experiment they limited the water for these athletes. Giving them one water station at the 11 mile marker. So all the athletes were dehydrated. Exhausted. And actually did not even finish. As they would have seven nations represented. Tswana in Lin, Tauja, and Jan Masani. Who were there part of the anthropology days.

[00:09:20] And just entered in whatever they were wearing. And ran barefoot during the event. Frederick Lohrs suffered from exhaustion. And actually hitchhiked in a car for 11 miles. And jogged to the stadium. As if he had won. Claiming it was a joke. Even though they told everybody he won. And later would take it away. The true winner ended up being Thomas Hicks. Who was suffering from hallucinations during it. And nearly collapsed. After his trainers gave him Sethersine. Which is a toxic stimulant.

[00:09:50] Instead of water. They were just doing tests on these guys. And he lost eight pounds during the race. He was barely conscious when he made it. And Felix Carnigal. Was a Cuban mailman. Who ran in street clothes. With a great mustache. And actually stopped to snack. On apples from an orchard. And took a nap during the race. But was good enough to finish fourth. This race deserves its own episode at some point. Because it is insane. When you dive in deep. But it's really what these Olympics were known for.

[00:10:20] Showing that it was not so much putting on the best Olympics. It was just getting events to go. It didn't matter. But despite these flaws. It still set some precedent. It gave us the gold, silver, and bronze. That we still use to this day. And the Francis field that they built. In Washington University. For the games. Is still around to this day. And celebrated for when they hosted the Olympics. But what it did for us majorly. Was give us an idea of what not to do for the Olympics.

[00:10:49] As St. Louis was not focused on hosting the Olympics itself. They just did not want the World's Fair. Which had been around longer than the Olympics. To be overshadowed. And now. We don't even know what the World's Fair is. And the Olympics. Is one of the most watched sporting events. In the world. Every four years. The question. Is it better to learn from a bad Olympics. Or build on a good one. I want to thank you for listening. To today's Daily Sports History.

[00:11:18] It means a lot to me. If you could. Leave us a comment or review. Wherever you're listening. That way. I know what you're thinking. And your input. Really helps me put these. Episodes together. And we'll see you on the next one.