The Weirdest Finish in Olympic History

📖 Level 1 - Beginner:

The 1904 Olympic marathon was very strange. One runner got tired. He stopped running and rode a car. Later, he started running again. He finished first. But people saw him in the car. He lost his medal. Another runner won. His name was Thomas Hicks. During the race, he took a dangerous drug. He was very sick after the race. Doctors helped him. This marathon was one of the weirdest sports events ever.

📖 Level 2 – Intermediate:

The 1904 Olympic marathon in St. Louis is famous for being one of the strangest races in history. One runner, Fred Lorz, became tired after about nine miles. He decided to ride in a car for eleven miles. Then he got out and continued running. He entered the stadium and crossed the finish line first. People cheered, but officials had seen him leave the car. They disqualified him immediately. The real winner was Thomas Hicks. However, Hicks had taken a dangerous drug called strychnine during the race. This drug is normally used as poison for rats. It gave him energy, but he became very sick. After finishing the race, he nearly died and needed medical help for hours. This marathon showed how strange early Olympic competitions could be.

📖 Level 3 – Advanced:

Few sporting events match the sheer absurdity of the 1904 Olympic marathon in St. Louis, a race plagued by bizarre circumstances and questionable ethics. The most infamous incident involved American runner Fred Lorz, who, after cramping up around the nine-mile mark, accepted a ride in a support vehicle for roughly eleven miles. He then resumed running, entered the stadium, and crossed the finish line first to roaring applause. Officials, however, had witnessed his unauthorized car ride and promptly disqualified him, stripping his medal. The victory was instead awarded to Thomas Hicks, another American. What makes Hicks’s win equally troubling is his performance-enhancing regimen: his trainer administered doses of strychnine—a potent poison typically used to kill rodents—mixed with egg whites and brandy. While the stimulant kept Hicks moving, it also ravaged his body. After collapsing at the finish line, Hicks required immediate medical attention and teetered on the edge of death for several hours. The 1904 marathon remains a cautionary tale, highlighting the chaotic infancy of modern Olympic rules and the extreme lengths athletes once took to win.