THIRTEEN OLYMPIC STORIES - story 8

Spiridon Louis

13 Medal-Worthy Olympic Stories (cont)

By Ethan Trex

August 14, 2008

8. Slow and Steady, with a Break for Wine

While planning the first modern Games in Athens in 1896, French historian Michel Breal wanted to come up with an event that linked the competition to its ancient roots. He suggested a footrace that was the distance from Athens to Marathon, because a messenger had once supposedly sprinted between the two cities to spread news of a Greek military victory. The Greek people were captivated by the notion of a race with such strong ties to their country’s history, and they become obsessed with dominating the event.

While the other nations barely prepared for the competition, the marathon-crazed Greeks held two qualifying trials to choose their entrants. Except for the Greek runners, only one other contestant had run a full marathon before the Olympic Games. On the day of the race, the lack of proper training quickly took its toll. By the halfway point, runners started dropping like flies.
After nearly three hours, fans at the finish line learned that a Greek runner named Spiridon Louis had taken the lead, despite stopping along the way for a glass of wine. Greece’s Prince George and Crown Prince Constantine got so excited that they joined Louis for his last surge to the finish line. Louis, a peasant farmer, quickly became a national hero, and his name even entered the Greek vernacular. The term egine Louis, which translates as “become Louis,” is still used to mean “run quickly.”