On August 30, 1904 32 runners set off to compete in the Olympic Marathon in St. Louis. Only 13 would finish. This poorly planned event would be one of the worst sporting events of all time. Cramps, dehydration, wild dogs, hallucinatios, stomach hemorrrages, car wrekcs and scandal all took place that afternoon.
In fact, it was just one of several sporting events in 1904 marked by scandal and trechary. And in this three part serires we'll explore three of those events.
In this episode Dr. Peter Kastor, Author and Professor of History and American Cultural Studies discusses how the legacy 1904 World's Fair, how white supremecy influenced the event and the legacy it's left. David Gunn shares his epxerience running in marathons juxtaposed with the 1904 race.
Sources:
Sports-Reference
Jon Bois Video Essay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4AhABManTw
Abott Kahler (Karen Abbot) Smithsonian Article
The 1904 Anthropology Days and Olympic Games
edited by Susan Brownnell
Big Ed Delahanty was one of baseball's earliest home run hitters. But on July 2, 1903 he died under bizarre circumstances. What actually happened?...
In 1900, more than a century before The Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox got in trouble for electronically stealing signs, a man named...
The 1914 Giro D'Italia was by virtually every metric, the worst bike race in history. 81 Riders entered the race. Only eight finished. There...
