Sports History: Marathon
As a sporting event, the marathon was introduced concurrently with the first official modern Olympic games, in the late 19th century. While the concept of the marathon as an organized, long distance race wasn’t solidified until 1896, the history of that contributed to it’s inception is far more ancient.
The race is named for the Greek town of Marathon, the location of a crucial battle between the Persians and Greeks. Legend has it that a Greek witness to this battle, the messenger Pheidippides, ran from Marathon to Athens to announce the victory, non-stop. The distance from town to town was approximately 26 miles, and was a contributing factor in the standard length of the modern marathon.
Today, more than one thousand marathons take place world wide each year. There are a number of famous annual marathons, such as the New York City Marathon. And the race still plays an important role in the Olympic games, and is considered in many ways to represent the heart and soul of the Olympics themselves.
The first Olympic marathons were male only; in 1984, a women’s marathon race was included. The men’s race is still the last event of the games, and traditionally concludes within the Olympic Stadium.