Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics – Men's marathon

Men's marathon
at the Games of the V Olympiad
Men's marathon; at the Games of the V Olympiad
	Ken McArthur winning the race.
Venue	Stockholms Olympiastadion, Stockholm
Dates	July 14
Competitors	68 from 19 nations
Winning time	2:36:54.8 OR
Medalists
	← 1908 1920 →

Official Video

The men's marathon was a track and field athletics event held as part of the athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics programme. The distance used was 40.2 kilometres, nearly 2 full kilometres shorter than that used in 1908 and since 1924. The competition was held on Sunday, July 14, 1912. 95 runners entered, but only 68 runners (from 19 nations) competed. NOCs could enter up to 12 athletes.^[1] With conditions described as "very hot", only 36 of the 68 competitors finished.^[2] The event was won by Ken McArthur of South Africa, the nation's first Olympic marathon victory.

This event also saw the first Olympic fatality, as Francisco Lázaro collapsed during the race, and died in hospital the next morning, while another runner, Shizo Kanakuri, went missing: Kanakuri had dropped out of the race and returned home to Japan without notifying race officials.

Background

This was the fifth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The field was strong. Sweden and the United States each entered full 12-man teams; the American team included 1911 Boston Marathon winner Clarence DeMar, 1912 Boston winner Michael J. Ryan, and 1908 Olympic bronze medalist Joseph Forshaw. Great Britain had 1909 Polytechnic winner Henry Barrett and 6 of the 8 finishers in the 1912 Polytechnic. Canada sent the winner of that 1912 Polytechnic, James Corkery. South Africa had the runner-up, Christian Gitsham, as well as Ken McArthur, who had won three marathons in South Africa.^[3]

Japan, Norway, Portugal, and Serbia each made their first appearance in Olympic marathons. The United States made its fifth appearance, the only nation to have competed in each Olympic marathon to that point.

Competition format

As all marathons, the competition was a single race. The course for the race was 40.2 kilometres long, which was more akin to the 1896 (40 km), 1900 (40.26 km), and 1904 (40 km) courses than the previous 1908 course (42.195 km) which would become standard.

It was "the first time the Olympic marathon was conducted as an out-and-back race." The course started at the stadium, went to the town of Sollentuna, and came back.^[3]

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in hours) prior to the 1912 Summer Olympics.

World record	Thure Johansson (SWE)	2:51:23.6	Stockholm, Sweden	31 August 1909
Olympic record	Johnny Hayes (USA)	2:55:18.4	London, United Kingdom	24 July 1908

The distance was nearly two kilometres shorter;^[4] nevertheless, Ken McArthur's winning time is registered as an Olympic record.

Schedule

Date	Time	Round
Sunday, 14 July 1912	13:48	Final

Results

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
	Ken McArthur	South Africa	2:36:54.8	OR
	Christian Gitsham	South Africa	2:37:52.0
	Gaston Strobino	United States	2:38:42.4
4	Andrew Sockalexis	United States	2:42:07.9
5	James Duffy	Canada	2:42:18.8
6	Sigfrid Jacobsson	Sweden	2:43:24.9
7	John Gallagher	United States	2:44:19.4
8	Joseph Erxleben	United States	2:45:47.2
9	Richard Piggott	United States	2:46:40.7
10	Joseph Forshaw	United States	2:49:49.4
11	Édouard Fabre	Canada	2:50:36.2
12	Clarence DeMar	United States	2:50:46.6
13	Renon Boissière	France	2:51:06.6
14	Henry Green	Great Britain	2:52:11.4
15	William Forsyth	Canada	2:52:23.0
16	Lewis Tewanima	United States	2:52:41.4
17	Harry Smith	United States	2:52:53.8
18	Thomas Lilley	United States	2:59:35.4
19	Arthur Townsend	Great Britain	3:00:05.0
20	Felix Kwieton	Austria	3:00:48.0
21	Frederick Lord	Great Britain	3:01:39.2
22	Jacob Westberg	Sweden	3:02:05.2
23	Axel Simonsen	Norway	3:04:59.4
24	Carl Andersson	Sweden	3:06:13.0
25	Edgar Lloyd	Great Britain	3:09:25.0
26	Iraklis Sakellaropoulos	Greece	3:11:37.0
27	Hjalmar Dahlberg	Sweden	3:13:32.2
28	Ivar Lundberg	Sweden	3:16:35.2
29	Johannes Christensen	Denmark	3:21:57.4
30	Olaf Lodal	Denmark	3:21:57.6
31	Ödön Kárpáti	Hungary	3:25:21.6
32	Carl Nilsson	Sweden	3:26:56.4
33	Emmerich Rath	Austria	3:27:03.8
34	Otto Osen	Norway	3:36:35.2
35	Elmar Reimann	Russia	Unknown
36	Shizo Kanakuri	Japan	54:08:06:05:32:20.3	"Finished" 54 years later^[5]
—	Alexis Ahlgren	Sweden	DNF
	Henry Barrett	Great Britain	DNF
	James Beale	Great Britain	DNF
	Thure Bergvall	Sweden	DNF
	James Corkery	Canada	DNF
	Oscar Fonbæk	Norway	DNF
	Septimus Francom	Great Britain	DNF
	William Grüner	Sweden	DNF
	David Guttman	Sweden	DNF
	Karl Hack	Austria	DNF
	Bohumil Honzátko	Bohemia	DNF
	Aarne Kallberg	Finland	DNF
	Andrejs Kapmals	Russia	DNF
	Tim Kellaway	Great Britain	DNF
	Tatu Kolehmainen	Finland	DNF
	Andrejs Krūkliņš	Russia	DNF
	Francisco Lázaro	Portugal	DNF	Died of electrolyte imbalance
	Ivan Lönnberg	Sweden	DNF
	Louis Pauteux	France	DNF
	Vladimír Penc	Bohemia	DNF
	Stuart Poulter	Australasia	DNF
	Nikolajs Rasso	Russia	DNF
	John Reynolds	United States	DNF
	Henrik Ripszám	Hungary	DNF
	Francesco Ruggero	Italy	DNF
	Michael J. Ryan	United States	DNF
	František Slavík	Bohemia	DNF
	Carlo Speroni	Italy	DNF
	Arthur St. Norman	South Africa	DNF
	Dragutin Tomašević	Serbia	DNF
	Gustaf Törnros	Sweden	DNF
	Aleksandrs Upmals	Russia	DNF
—	Ben Allel	France	DNS
	Jean Capelle	France	DNS
	Mathias de Carvalho	Portugal	DNS
	Nino Cazzaniga	Italy	DNS
	Orlando Cesaroni	Italy	DNS
	Nikolay Khorkov	Russia	DNS
	Paul Coulond	France	DNS
	Charles Davenport	Great Britain	DNS
	George Day	Great Britain	DNS
	Alex Decoteau	Canada	DNS
	Ahmed Djebelia	France	DNS
	George Goulding	Canada	DNS
	Gaston Heuet	France	DNS
	Joseph Keeper	Canada	DNS
	Alexandre Kracheninin	Russia	DNS
	Jean Lespielle	France	DNS
	Henry Lewis	Great Britain	DNS
	Henry Lorgnat	France	DNS
	Edmond Neyrinck	France	DNS
	Mikhail Nikolsky	Russia	DNS
	Alfred Nilsen	Norway	DNS
	Ole Olsen	Norway	DNS
	Jacob Pedersen	Norway	DNS
	Samuel Raynes	Great Britain	DNS
	Leonard Richardson	South Africa	DNS
	Joseph Zaitsev	Russia	DNS
	Alphonso Sanchez	Chile	DNS
	John Tait	Canada	DNS
	Živko Nastić	Serbia	DNS
	René Wilde	Russia	DNS

References

Specific

^ Official report, p. 61.
^ USA Track & Field (2004). "2004 USA Olympic Team Trials: Men's Marathon Media Guide Supplement" (PDF). Santa Barbara, California: USA Track & Field. p. 11. Retrieved February 21, 2011.
^ ^a ^b "Marathon, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
^ "Athletics at the 1912 Stockholm Summer Games: Men's Marathon". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
^ Rick Maese (August 6, 2021). "Lost and found: How Japan's 'father of the marathon' vanished mid-race". Washington Post.

General

Bergvall, Erik, ed. (1913). The Official Report of the Olympic Games of Stockholm 1912. Translated by Adams-Ray, Edward. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand.
Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich" (in Polish). Retrieved January 3, 2007.