1904 St. Louis Olympics

Many people think of 1904 as being a great year for St. Louis. There was the Centennial of the Louisiana Purchase going on, the Centennial of Lewis and Clark leaving from St. Louis to explore the new Louisiana Purchase, the World's Fair (called the Louisiana Purchase Exposition) going on, the Democratic Convention was going on, and the Olympics were going on. These all sound like big deals, but who could top the Olympics? Sounds grand! Ehh, not really.

The Olympics of 1904 were only the 3rd held (1896 was Athens, and 1900 was Paris). The Olympics of that time was not the huge multi-national affair it is today. In fact, at that time, it really wasn't meant to be countries against one another; it was more about amateur athletes and their attempts to compete against each other at different parts of the world. They had to pay their own way, and if they couldn't make it, then they would have to try in another four years. In the St. Louis Olympics, there were 681 athletes competing, and 525 were American, and most of the rest were Canadian. The official Olympics ran only from Monday, August 29 through Saturday, September 3, with no games on that Friday, so really, it only lasted five days. So, how much can you achieve in only five days? Enough to try to forget about.

Many people find the Olympics of that time to be quite forgettable for many reasons, one of which was mentioned in the above paragraph. Some of the most notable events that took place:

1. In the 50m swimming match, Hungary's Zoltan Holmay beat American J. Scott Leary by a foot, but the American judge said Leary won. Holmay and Leary got into a fist fight over the result. The judges decided to have a rematch, where Holmay clearly won the second time.

2. American George Eyser won 5 medals (2 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze) in gymnastics. This is only interesting in the fact that one of his legs was wooden (amputated from a train accident).

By far, the marathon was quite the most bizarre activity in Olympic history. The total distance was about 40 km which started in the stadium, then went out, over several hills, then back into the stadium. The track was dusty, and vehicles drove in front of the runners and behind, so dust was kicked up into the faces of the runners. Add that to the humid and over 90-degree day, and it makes a brutal run. The first man to cross the finish line was Fred Lorz, but just before he received his medal, it was announed that he had been seen in an automobile. It was found out that Lorz was picked up by one of the automobiles at the 9-mile mark and rode it for about 11 miles until the car's engine overheated. Now with a rest in him, he ran the rest of the way.

But that's not all. Thomas Hicks, a British man who ran for America, was the one who actually came in first place. Since he was the 2nd man to come in first, the crowd was wary of cheering for him. Alice Roosevelt, daughter of the President, was ready to congratulate the 2nd first place winner, but she had difficulty doing that because of Hicks's trainers. His trainers, ten miles earlier, gave him some strychnine mixed with raw egg white to keep him going. They gave him some more along the way, as well as some brandy. He was literally half-carried across the finish line, and almost died before he left the stadium.

That's still not all. A Cuban postman named Felix Carvajal decided he was going to enter the race when he heard there would be one, but he had no money. He took up a donation campaign in Cuba, and soon raised enough money to finance his trip to the Olympics. However, on his way, he stopped in New Orleans and lost all his money in a craps game. He hitchhiked his way to St. Louis, and was soon ready to race. The problem for Felix was that he lacked any gear. The beginning of the marathon was halted for a few minutes as Felix ripped off the shirt sleeves and pant legs, and he ran in regular street shoes. He was known for running backwards at times and chatting with the crowd, but he was also known for stealing some peaches from a race official. He decided to run into an orchard and eat some apples, which made him sick. He eventually regained the marathon, but because of his detour, he only finished in 4th.

And yet, there's still more with the marathon. The first two black Africans to compete in the Olympics were included in the marathon: Len Taunyane and Jan Mashiani, both from South Africa. The only problem was that the times were extremely racist and Len and Jan weren't even supposed to be there for the marathon. They took part in the Boer War exhibit as Zulu tribesman at the World's Fair, but found their way into the marathon. Len came in 9th and Jan came in 12th. Some thought that Len would have done better, but he was chased by a dog off course for a little while, which may have had something to do with it.

Sadly, there's yet another tale about the marathon. A couple of patrolmen were driving a car and had to swerve from hitting some runners. In doing so, they crashed down a hill and were severely injured. Yet another of the strange occurrences that happened during the disastrous marathon.

So basically, the 1904 St. Louis Olympics was a disaster, for more reasons than for what has already been mentioned, but you get the idea. Because the Paris games of 1900 were not much better than the 1904 games, the Olympic Committe elected to have interim games held in Athens in 1906, which were not part of the normal succession of Olympics, but had at least 20 countries attend. Because of the 1906 games, the Olympics became evermore popular in the years following, helping it become the huge celebration of patriotism it is today. The 1904 Olympics of St. Louis (which were originally supposed to be in Chicago, but moved to St. Louis to coincide with the World's fair) was a disaster of many reasons. Even though it turned out to sound more like an SNL skit than an actual event, it did change the way the Olympics worked: since it was such a disaster, anything would've been better.

And one more note about the Olympics: I bet you're wondering about the Winter Olympics. Those weren't added until 1924.

Bet you didn't know that!