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Did
you know?
-
It was the first time in the history of the organization that
athletes from Africa participated in the marathon race of
the third Olympic Games.  Those
athletes were Len Tau and Jan Mashiani, Zulu tribesmen. Before
the beginning of the race, many people considered them the
most likely winners, because many things were heard of their
endurance. In the end, only Len Tau finished in the 9th place,
after having been chased by dogs, which forced him to run
towards the opposite direction to save himself.
- The presence of an American athlete in gymnastics had been
moving, not only for his exceptional performance, but also
for his remarkable persistence and willpower. That athlete
was George Eyser, who had a leg made of wood due to an accident
and despite that he won two first victories, two second and
one third.
- The spectators had waited for more than three hours for
the first Olympic marathon winner to arrive. Eventually, the
American Fred Lorz entered the stadium in triumph and started
making statements to the journalists, taking pictures and
accepting the acclamations of the crowd. Later it was proven
that he had run about 16km only and covered the rest of the
distance comfortably seated in a lorry, from which he got
down just off the finish line. After that he was punished
with life disqualification. That incident demonstrates the
major deficiencies that had characterized the Games, especially
the organization.
- It is thought that it was in the Games of 1904 that the
first case of doping was made known. After the disclosure
of Lorz's behaviour in the Games, the American Tom Hicks,
winner of the marathon, had later admitted that he had made
use of alcohol and strychnine, a fact that probably constitutes
the first and "amateur" form of doping in the history of the
Games. Many among the subsequent observers of the history
of the Olympic Games have maintained that, were today's rules
in force, Hicks should have been disqualified as well.
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