Sneakers

Ever since Pheidippides dropped dead after running to Athens with the news of the victory in battle at Marathon the Olympic Event carrying the name of the place of slaughter of around 8000 men has been dogged with misfortune and tragedy.

There has, to the last Summer Games in Rio de Janerio been just 29 competitive Marathons for the ultimate prize of Olympic Gold and just slightly less in the number of winners as some of the greatest athletes achieved consecutive victories.

For such a rare frequency of the race there has been a disproportionate amount of deaths, eventually fatal injuries and imprisonments amongst the victors.

This could be down to plain old carelessness given that Marathon Runners are very individualistic and single minded and therefore more likely to take risks or put themselves in perilous situations or as a matter of pure speculation -the curse of Pheidippides.

The 1928 Olympic Marathon winner, Ahmed El Ouafi was shot dead in a cafe in Algeria. Granted this was 30 years after his event but after applying the the law of averages he was certainly in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The 1968 winner Mamo Wolde was later imprisoned for alleged involvement in State sponsored executions and civil liberty violations in his home country of Ethiopia.

Two time gold medallist at Rome and Tokyo Abebe Bikila died from injuries sustained in a car crash in 1969. Tragically the vehicle had been a gift for his sporting achievements from Emperor Haile Selassie.

Even the winner of the first ever modern era Marathon in 1896, Spyridon Louis, did time in jail for alleged involvement in a forgery racket.

Perhaps most poignant was the death of Sammy Wanjiru, the 2008 Beijing winner who was reported to have died after falling off a balcony at home. It was not clear if this was suicide or as the result of a domestic incident involving him and another woman being discovered by his wife.

Yes, these incidents all took place over a long period and given the total number of participants in all of the Olympic Marathons the number of fatalities or range of fates of those mentioned may diminish any conspiracy theories or bad Karma.

However, in the 1904 St Louis hosted Olympic Games the Marathon produced a catalogue of strange goings-on which could not be put down to bad luck.

In fact the whole organisation and officiating of that specific event in the Summer Games was heavily criticised. Although daytime temperatures were well into the 30 degrees the race was scheduled not for the cool of the morning but in the sweltering afternoon. Only 1 water station was provided in addition to access to a well. The main Organiser had made it known that he wanted to use the race to make a study of how the human body coped with dehydration.

The route was mainly on loose dirt roads and the entourage of accompanying vehicles stirred up such a complete dust storm that it nearly caused the death of the competitor, William Garcia who was found collapsed on the road and gasping for breath in the asphyxiating air.

In such difficult conditions of the 32 starters of the race only 14 were able to make it to the finish.

The American, on home soil, Fred Lorz came over the line in first place and was acclaimed and photographed before being disqualified. It transpired that for miles 9 to 19 of the Marathon he had hitched a ride in a car.

Thomas Hicks also of the USA was declared the winner although having taken a wicked concoction of strychnine (rat poison) and brandy as a riviver from his Coach he became hallucinated and had to be carried by his helpers , legs dangling in the air, over the line.

A competitor from Cuba, a Postman in his daytime job, stopped in an orchard on the route and after eating a few rotten apples suffered from stomach cramps. Even after a nap of some 20 minutes he finished fourth.

Most illuminating on the list of finishers were those in 9th and 12th place.

They were Africans who had been brought to St Louis as part of a sideshow gathering and had no experience of running a marathon. Their high placings had not been assisted by their being chased a mile off the official course by a pack of dogs.

The record books show that to the present day 9 of the Olympic Marathon champions have come from the continent of Africa.