The modern 42.195 km marathon has no ancient precedent. Greek athletic events at Olympia included the stadion (~192 m), diaulos, and dolichos, but no 40 km road race. Michel Bréal proposed a Marathon-to-Athens run on September 15, 1894, and the first race happened in 1896. Even Herodotus' account of the 490 BCE battle doesn't include the runner legend.
Ancient Olympics never included a marathon race; modern event was a 19th-century invention
GreeceGeneral
Key facts
- The modern marathon distance is 42.195 km / 26.2 miles
- The ancient Olympic stadion race at Olympia was about 192 m or 210 yards in length
- The diaulos covered two stadion lengths; the dolichos was the long-distance event but covered only several kilometers
- No known ancient Greek athletic program included a 40 km road race from Marathon to Athens
- On September 15, 1894, Michel Bréal wrote to Pierre de Coubertin proposing a race from Marathon to Athens to give the new games an ancient character
- The runner legend comes from the Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE, but Herodotus' earliest account does not include it; later sources like Plutarch and Lucian vary on the runner's name
- The 42.195 km course originated at the 1908 London Olympics and was standardized in 1921
- The first marathon race took place in 1896, a modern commemoration rather than a revived ancient event
Site mentioned
Sources
Marathonen.wikipedia.org
The modern 42.195 km (26.219 mi) standard distance for the marathon was set by the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) in May 1921
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In 1921 the distance of 42.195 kilometres (26 miles and 385 yards) was officially accepted as the standard length for all future marathons. The IAAF records ...
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A tribute to the messenger Phidippides, the first marathon runner Why is 42.195 km exactly the marathon distance? The marathon, an original idea by Michel Bré ...
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