How the 1908 Marathon Saved the Olympics

Original Marathon medals - exact replica of the London 1908 Olympic medals

The London 1908 Olympic Marathon was famous for many things; Dorando Pietri's disqualification, the most viewed sports footage ever (at the time), setting the marathon distance at 26.2 miles... and for SAVING THE OLYMPIC GAMES!

The Modern Olympic Games was started by Baron de Coubertin in 1896, and where better to host it but Athens - the birthplace of the Olympics, thousands of years earlier. The 1896 Games were a resounding success (although only 14 countries sent athletes to the 9 sports). Following Athens, de Coubertin (a Frenchman) brought the Games to Paris 1900. However, the Games were hosted within the Paris Universal Exhibition, so the importance of the Games themselves was diluted and the event was not deemed a major success.

Following Paris 1904, the Games was brought to the U.S.A. - the first Games outside of Europe. St Louis, Missouri hosted the event, but not without controversy. Chicago was originally awarded the Games, but a rival event - the Louisiana Purchase Exposition was concerned that their existing event would be affected by the Games and threatened to host their own international sporting tournament. Eventually St Louis was awarded the Games, but they were not deemed a success. A marathon controversy (the first across the line had actually taken a cab part of the way), low interest and in-fighting detracted from the sports.

Then came the Intercalated Games in 1906 (outside of the 4 year cycle). Greece, as the founders of the ancient Olympics, wanted to host every Olympic Games, so they set about creating their own Games in 1906 - which is still not officially recognised by the IOC. The Intercaled Games was not repeated and Greece eventually hosted their next Olympics in 2004, having lost out to Sydney in 2000.

Then came 1908 - originally Rome had won the right to host the Games, but a combination of economic turmoil and Mt Vesuvius erupting, led the Games to be switched to London, with just 2 years to prepare. Initially the London ticket sales were slow, especially with lots of rain in the early stages of the Games. Attendances started to build as drier weather came in.

The London 1908 Marathon Race then became the talking point of the world! A famous DQ, controversy with an appeal from the U.S.A. team and an outpouring of sympathy for Dorando Pietri after hist DQ, led the marathon to become the world's first globally talked about (and seen on film) sports event. The 1908 Olympic marathon, with its controversy, the appeal of the athletes and the awe of the athletic endeavour, made the marathon the Olympic's blue ribband event and saved the Olympic Games - adding renewed interest and global awareness to the multi-sport event.