Athletics at the 1904 Summer Olympics – Men's marathon

This was the third appearance of the marathon event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Arthur L. Newton of the United States was the only runner from 1900 to return, while other significant American runners included the winners of the past three Boston Marathons: 1902 winner Sammy Mellor, 1903 winner John Lordon, and 1904 winner Michael Spring. Cuba and South Africa each made their first appearance in the event, while the United States was the only nation to have runners in each of the first three Olympic marathons. The marathon included the first two black Africans to compete in the Olympics: two Tswana men named Len Taunyane and Jan Mashiani, who happened to be in St. Louis as part of the South African exhibit at the 1904 World's Fair. Although some accounts report that both ran barefoot, Mashiani was wearing shoes in photographs taken during the event. ==Competition format==

The marathon distance had not yet been standardized; in St. Louis, the course was 24 miles and 1500 yards (40 km). The organizers started the marathon at 3:00 pm, whereas most modern marathons start in the early morning to take advantage of cooler times of day. The start included five laps, or 1 miles (2.68 km), around the stadium track. The route had to be altered at the last minute after roads in the Creve Coeur area were washed out by rain. Also, the course was not cleared of obstacles for the marathon; the runners had to dodge cross-town traffic, delivery wagons, railroad trains, trolley cars and even people walking their dogs. File:1904 Olympics- Runners lined up at start of Marathon Race, receiving instructions immediately prior to start.jpg|Runners gathered immediately before the race start File:First runners leaving the stadium during the 1904 Olympic Marathon Race. (Mellor and Spring in front of referees' automobile).jpg|First runners leaving the stadium (Mellor and Spring in front of referees' automobile) File:Carvajal1904.jpg|Andarín Carvajal on his way to fourth place == Summary ==

During the race, John Lordan, who had won the 1903 Boston Marathon, was violently ill after and retired, while Sam Mellor, who had won the 1902 Boston Marathon, was also overcome by the dust; despite leading the field at the halfway mark, Mellor became disoriented and ultimately dropped out of the race after . Thomas Hicks ended up winning the event, although he benefited from various forms of aid that would not be allowed today. from the finish, Hicks led the race by , but he had to be restrained from stopping and lying down by his trainers. From then until the end of the race, Hicks received several doses of strychnine – a common rat poison, which stimulates the nervous system in small doses – mixed with brandy and egg white. Arriving without correct documents, Albert Corey, a French immigrant to the United States, is inconsistently listed as participating in a mixed team in the four mile team race (with four undisputed Americans) and competing for the United States in the marathon. ==Dehydration==

The only source of water for the competitors was a well at about the halfway () mark. However Carvajal managed to get a drink from a water tower roughly in. James Edward Sullivan was a chief organizer of the Olympics, and set up no other water sources along the 24 miles and 1500 yards course of the marathon even though it was conducted in heat over unpaved roads that were choked with dust. His ostensible reason was to conduct research on "purposeful dehydration": this, combined with poor officiating, saw the marathon end with the worst ratio of finishers to starters (14 out of 32), and the slowest winning time, 3:28:53, which was exactly 29 minutes slower than the second-slowest winning time. ==Schedule==