![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The Lost Olympics
16 August 2004 22:30In honour of the Olympic games I bring forth this Useless Facts:
The 1904 Olympics were held in St. Louis, Missouri and were the third of the Modern Olympic Games. Unfortunately, it ended up being such a farce, that they had to be re-held two years later in Athens to get things back on track. Following are some of the Useless Facts about the offending Olympics:
Anthropology days: The people organizing the Games wanted to show that they were international by providing events that the 'primitive' peoples, such as pygmies and patagonians, could compete in. Sports included mud fighting, greased-pole climbing, and spear throwing, just to name a few.
Swimming: Zoltan Halmay of Hungary won both the 100m and 50 m freestyle. In the 50m he beat the American, J Scott Leary by one foot, however, the American judge declared that Leary had one. This resulted in a brawl between the two swimmers and the judges ordered a rematch, which Halmay won.
Gymnastics: George Eyser of the USA won two Gold, two Silver, and one Bronze medal at the games. This is even more impressive when you consider that he only had one leg. Gotta love judged sports.
The Marathon: The winner was Fred Lorz of the USA. After winning, it was revealed that he had covered half the distance by car. Apparently he had suffered from cramps so he hitched a ride from the 9 mile marker to the 12 mile marker, where the car broke down. He ran the rest of the race, but claimed that he had never intended to fool anyone, he just got caught up in the moment.
After this admission of guilt, the second place runner, Thomas Hicks of Britain was declared the winner. However, he was carried across the finish line. Apparently, he had collapsed ten miles away from the finish line. Instead of letting him quit, his trainers gave him an oral dose of strychnine sulfate mixed into raw egg white to keep him going. This, apparently was not enough, however. His trainers proceeded to give him several more doses mixed with brandy along the way. By the end of the race, Hicks was carried across the finish line by two of his trainers while he moved his feet back-and-forth. It took four doctors to get Hicks well enough to leave teh grounds.
If all this wasn't bad enough, it goes on. A Cuban postman named Felix Carvajal also competed in the marathon. He quit his job in Cuba and raised enough money to come to the Olympics, but he gambled his money away in New Orleans and had to hitch-hike to the Games. Once there, he discovered that he did not have proper running equipment, so he cut the sleeves off his shirt and the legs off his pants, and ran in light street shoes. After all this he seemed to do quite well. He didn't seem to fatigue easily, and he was constantly talking with the crowd, even running backwards at times while he spoke to them in broken English. But, in keeping with the 1904 Olympic tradition, things turned south. Poor Felix found that he was getting hungry, so he ate some peaches that he stole from a race official, then took a detour into an orchard to eat on some green apples. He developed stomach cramps and had to temporarily drop out of the marathon. He did manage to get back into the race and came in fourth.
One would think that three problems such as these would be enough for one Olympic marathon, but there's more. This Olympic marathon included the first two black Africans to compete in the Olympics - two Zulu tribesman named Lentauw (real name: Len Taunyane)and Yamasani (real name: Jan Mashiani). But, things were not all that they appeared. First off, while these two were Zulu, they were not 'primitive tribesmen'. In actuality, they were students at Orange Free State in South Africa. This brings us to our second thing. They were not Olympians, they were the Side Show. The two men were brought into the country to be a part of the Boer War exhibit. Somehow, they found themselves competing. Lentauw finished ninth and Yamasani came in twelfth. It is quite possible that Lwntauw would have done better if he had not been chased a mile off course by a very large, very aggressive dog.
Lastly, two officials were badly injured when they drove their brand new automobile off an embankment to avoid hitting one of the runners.
Competitors: Due to the cost of travel and the Russo-Japanese War only 42 of the 94 events included athletes from countries other than the United States.
There were some good points, however:
1) The first black athlete to win a medal, George Poage, came in third in the 400m hurdles.
2) Both Iced Tea and the Ice Cream Cone were invented at the 1904 Olympics/World's Fair.
3) These were the first Olympics to have a Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals.
I hope you have found these Useless Facts interesting.
The 1904 Olympics were held in St. Louis, Missouri and were the third of the Modern Olympic Games. Unfortunately, it ended up being such a farce, that they had to be re-held two years later in Athens to get things back on track. Following are some of the Useless Facts about the offending Olympics:
Anthropology days: The people organizing the Games wanted to show that they were international by providing events that the 'primitive' peoples, such as pygmies and patagonians, could compete in. Sports included mud fighting, greased-pole climbing, and spear throwing, just to name a few.
Swimming: Zoltan Halmay of Hungary won both the 100m and 50 m freestyle. In the 50m he beat the American, J Scott Leary by one foot, however, the American judge declared that Leary had one. This resulted in a brawl between the two swimmers and the judges ordered a rematch, which Halmay won.
Gymnastics: George Eyser of the USA won two Gold, two Silver, and one Bronze medal at the games. This is even more impressive when you consider that he only had one leg. Gotta love judged sports.
The Marathon: The winner was Fred Lorz of the USA. After winning, it was revealed that he had covered half the distance by car. Apparently he had suffered from cramps so he hitched a ride from the 9 mile marker to the 12 mile marker, where the car broke down. He ran the rest of the race, but claimed that he had never intended to fool anyone, he just got caught up in the moment.
After this admission of guilt, the second place runner, Thomas Hicks of Britain was declared the winner. However, he was carried across the finish line. Apparently, he had collapsed ten miles away from the finish line. Instead of letting him quit, his trainers gave him an oral dose of strychnine sulfate mixed into raw egg white to keep him going. This, apparently was not enough, however. His trainers proceeded to give him several more doses mixed with brandy along the way. By the end of the race, Hicks was carried across the finish line by two of his trainers while he moved his feet back-and-forth. It took four doctors to get Hicks well enough to leave teh grounds.
If all this wasn't bad enough, it goes on. A Cuban postman named Felix Carvajal also competed in the marathon. He quit his job in Cuba and raised enough money to come to the Olympics, but he gambled his money away in New Orleans and had to hitch-hike to the Games. Once there, he discovered that he did not have proper running equipment, so he cut the sleeves off his shirt and the legs off his pants, and ran in light street shoes. After all this he seemed to do quite well. He didn't seem to fatigue easily, and he was constantly talking with the crowd, even running backwards at times while he spoke to them in broken English. But, in keeping with the 1904 Olympic tradition, things turned south. Poor Felix found that he was getting hungry, so he ate some peaches that he stole from a race official, then took a detour into an orchard to eat on some green apples. He developed stomach cramps and had to temporarily drop out of the marathon. He did manage to get back into the race and came in fourth.
One would think that three problems such as these would be enough for one Olympic marathon, but there's more. This Olympic marathon included the first two black Africans to compete in the Olympics - two Zulu tribesman named Lentauw (real name: Len Taunyane)and Yamasani (real name: Jan Mashiani). But, things were not all that they appeared. First off, while these two were Zulu, they were not 'primitive tribesmen'. In actuality, they were students at Orange Free State in South Africa. This brings us to our second thing. They were not Olympians, they were the Side Show. The two men were brought into the country to be a part of the Boer War exhibit. Somehow, they found themselves competing. Lentauw finished ninth and Yamasani came in twelfth. It is quite possible that Lwntauw would have done better if he had not been chased a mile off course by a very large, very aggressive dog.
Lastly, two officials were badly injured when they drove their brand new automobile off an embankment to avoid hitting one of the runners.
Competitors: Due to the cost of travel and the Russo-Japanese War only 42 of the 94 events included athletes from countries other than the United States.
There were some good points, however:
1) The first black athlete to win a medal, George Poage, came in third in the 400m hurdles.
2) Both Iced Tea and the Ice Cream Cone were invented at the 1904 Olympics/World's Fair.
3) These were the first Olympics to have a Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals.
I hope you have found these Useless Facts interesting.
