Warning. The subject of this post is delicate. Had a foreigner written about this, I would have found it untoward. But being Greek I consider everything Greek to be part of my inheritance and so I can question and cast doubt on what is considered one of the greatest moments of Greek athletics.
If there is a name even people who do not care at all about Athletics do know (at least in Greece) it's that of the winner of the first Olympic Marathon: Spyridon (Spyros) Louis. He appeared into the world of long-distance running out of thin air and, as soon as the Olympics were over, he disappeared, never to run again. In order to understand why I am questioning his victory, I must tell the story of the Olympic Marathon from the beginning.
As I explained in my article on the myth surrounding Pheidippides, it was Michel Bréal, a personal friend of de Coubertin, who suggested that a race from Marathon to Athens be held during the 1896 Olympics. The news spurred enthusiasm among the Greek and long-distance races started being organised ahead of the official race. On March 10th the Greek Marathon Championship took place. It served as qualifier for the Olympic Marathon scheduled for March 29th, the first six athletes being qualified for the Olympics. Ch. Vasilakos won the race in 3 hours and 17 minutes.
At this point, I must stress that the person in charge of the official Marathon was an Army major, G. Papadiamantopoulos. He was a one-person organising committee and was also in charge of the Marathon course. Now it happened that Louis had served under Papadiamantopoulos during his military service and the major remembered that his ex-recruit had a good running stamina. So he lobbied for an additional qualifying round (to be held on March 24) in which Louis would be participating. The condition for being included in the team was to finish in a time better than the one of Vasilakos. The first four finishers succeeded. Louis finished fifth with a time of 3:18:27 and was not qualified. Big discussions ensued and in the end, all six finishers of the additional race were included in the team. The rationale behind this decision was that with a large Greek team, the chances for a Greek victory were increasing. (I really don't see how adding inexperienced runners who had run a marathon just four days before the official one would increase the chances of a victory but one cannot know what Papadiamantopoulos was thinking).
The big day was March 29th. Four foreigner runners were taking part: E. Flack, A. Lermusiaux, A. Blake and G. Kellner. The first three were middle-distance runners without any experience in marathon-long distances. Only Kellner had a long-distance experience having run a 40 km qualifying race in Budapest. They started next to the boundary stone indicating a distance of 40 km from Athens. There were no judges along the course which was patrolled by Papadiamantopoulos soldiers on horse.
At mid-race, Lermusiaux was leading followed by Flack, Blake, Kellner and Vasilakos. Louis was 10 minutes behind the leader. Shortly afterwards Blake dropped out. Lermusiaux could not go beyond 32 km and Flack took the lead. And then an amazing thing happened. At around km 33 Louis caught up with the leader. Flack tried to resist but ran totally out of steam and at km 37 dropped out of the race. Louis took the lead and continued with a brisk pace until he arrived at the Panathenaic stadium. Meanwhile, Papadiamantopoulos on horseback had rushed to the stadium announcing that the leader of the marathon was a Greek. Louis arrived at the stadium completing his race in 2:58:50. Vasilakos followed him in 3:06:03 with Belokas and Kellner obtaining the next positions in 3:06:30 and 3:06:35 respectively.
All three runners arriving after Louis were astonished when they learned their relative order, all pointing out that they did not remember Louis surpassing them at any point of the race. Vasilakos was more explicit. He met Louis after the race in the changing room and told him: "I don't wish to spoil the day and disappoint those who are rejoicing. I will not file a protest. Let God be your judge". Indeed it was too late to change the result. Louis' victory was the only Greek one in Athletics and casting any doubt on it would have been a major disappointment, even if Louis were replaced by another Greek.
So, first, let us look at the facts. Vasilakos, an experienced runner, improved his time by some 10 minutes between March 10th and March 29th. Louis, running two marathons in four days, improved his time by 20 minutes. And not only this, but he managed to make up a 10-minute delay at mid-race. In his book, D.G. McFail (he is Greek despite the Scottish name) does not hesitate to offer the hypothesis that Louis must have run part of the race on horseback thanks to Papadiamantopoulos' troops.
After the Olympics Vasilakos and Belokas challenged Louis but the latter did not rise to the challenge. He never ran again. He lived the rest of his days making a living by carrying water with a cart offered to him as a reward for his victory. His last official appearance was at the 1936, Berlin, Olympics as part of the Greek delegation.
Vasilakos went on to have a career as a race-walker. (He was the one who introduced the discipline to Greece). An injury in the weeks preceding the 1906 Olympics prevented him from taking part in the Olympic Marathon.
Personally, I think that Louis has been used by Papadiamantopoulos who, fearing the victory of a foreigner, concocted a plan ensuring a Greek victory. When it became clear that the Greek athletes could prevail it was too late, the plan had been executed and there was no going back. This probably deprived Vasilakos of a well-merited title, but, alas, the 1896 Marathon history cannot be rewritten.
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