Paris 2024 Olympic Games: 54 years to complete a marathon, the Colosseum by mistake on the medals… unusual anecdotes in the history of the Olympic Games (2/5)

Discover unusual anecdotes from the Olympics. – MAXPPP montage – Screenshot

Between 1896 and 1904, the first modern Olympics left behind a few anecdotes which have become legendary for some but remained too little known for others. As the Paris Olympic Games fast approach, Midi Libre rewinds the tape. Series 2/5.

A Bible to celebrate

During the 1908 Games in London, American athlete Forrest Smithson made an impression in the 110m hurdles. In a White City Stadium built for the occasion, the Portland native won with a five-meter lead over his competitors. To celebrate his victory, the athlete, a very religious person, grabs a Bible and performs the same race with the sacred Christian book in his left hand.

A marathon completed in 54 years

Shizo Kanakuri is a Japanese marathon runner, entered in the event during the Stockholm Olympics (1912). The 21-year-old athlete is the first Japanese in history to take part in his famous 42 kilometers. Under a blazing sun, as he arrives at the 30th kilometer, Kanakuri is exhausted.

A local on the course offers him something to drink and a place to rest. Problem: the runner doesn't wake up until the next day. Ashamed, he decides to leave Sweden on the sly, leading to searches by the Scandinavian authorities. At the Antwerp (1920) and Paris (1924) Games, Kanakuri also takes part in the main event.

It was in 1967 that a Swedish journalist went to Japan to track him down. Geography teacher, Shizo Kanakuri, 76, is offered the opportunity to finish his marathon, 54 years after starting it. On March 20, 1967, on the track of the Olympic stadium in Stockholm, the Japanese finally completed his race 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes, 20 seconds and 3 tenths later having started it. A record in the Guinness Book that is not about to fall.

De Coubertin, gold medalist… of literature

Did you know, Baron Pierre de Coubertin was also an Olympic gold medalist. During the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, the father of the modern Games decided to include artistic events. A healthy mind in a healthy body and five new events for "Pentathlon of the Muses" : painting, architecture, music, sculpture and literature.

Registered under two pseudonyms (Hohrod and Eschbach), and under German nationality, Coubertin was awarded the gold medal in literature, he presented a prose poem, "Ode to sport&quot ;. Artistic disciplines later disappeared from the Olympic program in 1954.

11:40 a.m. for a wrestling semi-final

In 1912, in Stockholm, during the Greco-Roman wrestling events, a semi-final made history. It took Estonian Martin Klein 11h40 to defeat Finnish Alfred Asikainen. In the final, Klein, exhausted, was unable to fight against the Swede Claes Johansson, who received the gold medal without fighting.

Also read: Paris 2024 Olympic Games: medalist at 10 years old, 300 pigeons killed, a marathon by car… unusual anecdotes in the history of the Olympic Games (1/5)

Five gold medals and a role as Tarzan

In the summer of 1924, people flocked to the Tourelles Olympic swimming pool in Paris, as much to follow the aquatic exploits of Johnny Weissmuller as to enjoy his plasticity: 86 kg of muscles stretched over 1 ,90 m.

To participate in the Olympics under the American banner, this Romanian immigrant falsifies his birth certificate. The swimmer who was the first to complete a 100m in less than a minute won five gold medals in Paris. During his career, he set 28 world records, including the 100-yard freestyle (1927).

It was thanks to him that swimming became the second Olympic discipline after athletics. After his aquatic exploits, the Apollo of the ponds became a star of the big screen, playing Tarzan in a dozen films. Having squandered his fortune on alimony – he had five wives- and in bad business, he became a seller of prefabricated swimming pools and dark – like his father who died when he was 10- into alcoholism. He ended his life in a psychiatric hospital.

Motto of the games, the three flags + first Olympic village

The Colosseum on Olympic medals for 72 years

Were the Olympic Games created in Italy?? A detail about the medals has long caused confusion. During a competition in 1928, the IOC chose the Italian Giuseppe Cassioli as the future designer of the medals. The artist highlighted Nike, the Greek goddess of victory and a laurel wreath but placed these symbols in front of… the Colosseum in Rome.

For 72 years, this model has been preserved and the ancient Roman enclosure is present around the necks of the various medalists. It was not until the Games returned to Greece, in 2004, that the affront was washed away: the Panathinaiko stadium, scene of the first Games of the modern era in 1896, replacing the Colosseum.< /p>

A break to let the ducks pass

In 1928, in Amsterdam, Australian rower Henry Pearce (22 years old) was easily crowned Olympic champion in rowing (skiff). Above the rest, Pearce even allowed himself, in the quarter-final, to stop his effort to let a family of ducks pass into his water line.

And the 3000m steeple turns into 3460m steeple…

In a Los Angeles edition which saw the first podiums appear, it was on another ground that the organizers stood out. Indeed, during the final of the men's 3000m steeplechase, the Finn Volmari Iso-Hollo finished the race in the lead but was surprised by his mediocre time (10 min 33.4 s), more than 1000m steeplechase. 1 minute more than its standards. The judges had actually forgotten to ring the bell for the last round at the right time, moving the 3000m steeplechase to the 3460m steeplechase.