The first finisher took a car for 10 miles, the winner was dosed with strychnine, and a Cuban stopped to eat apples and nap — the most chaotic race in Olympic history.
The 1904 Olympic Marathon was held in St. Louis in August — at noon, in 90°F heat, over 24 miles of dusty unpaved roads. Race organizers deliberately withheld water from most runners, calling it a 'scientific experiment' to study the effects of dehydration. Of 32 starters, only 14 finished.
The first man across the finish line was Frederick Lorz of New York, who received a hero's welcome and had a victory wreath placed on his head by Alice Roosevelt, the president's daughter. It quickly emerged that he had hitched a ride in a car for 11 of the 24 miles. He was banned for life — later commuted to six months.
The actual winner, Thomas Hicks, crossed the line hallucinating and barely able to stand. His trainers had administered strychnine — a poison used as a stimulant — mixed with brandy and raw egg whites twice during the race. Support staff physically carried him across the finish line. He was taken directly to hospital.
Cuban postman Félix Carvajal arrived at the start line wearing street clothes, having gambled away his travel money in New Orleans and walked most of the way. Hungry after 40 hours without food, he stopped mid-race to chat with spectators, stole peaches from a nearby orchard, and then ate what turned out to be rotten apples. He still managed to finish fourth.
South African runners Len Taunyane and Jan Mashiani were the first Black Africans to compete in the Olympics. Taunyane finished ninth despite being chased a mile off course by an aggressive dog. Organizers later admitted he likely would have placed in the top five had that not happened.
The race was so badly organized and so obviously farcical that the International Olympic Committee spent years debating whether to strip the results. It stands today as perhaps the clearest example of an athletic competition that collapsed entirely under the weight of incompetence, bad science, and pure absurdity.