Dolando Pitley was cancelled for the title due to outside help, and the Italian lost the game but won everyone's heart.
In the 1908 London Olympic Marathon, Pitley reached the finish line
On July 24, 1908, the last day of the Olympic athletics competition, London was crowded. 100,000 spectators crowded the White City Arena, and millions of people were stranded outside just to witness the final outcome of the marathon. As the most explosive event in the Olympic Games, the marathon can attract so many spectators to watch the last 400 yards, that is, 0.87% of the whole process, this grand event must be recorded in history.
The New York Times wrote the next day: "The winner of the ancient Greek marathon fell to the finish line and died quietly in the cheers of victory, but since then, no race has been more exciting than this one at the London Olympics in 1908." This is by no means an exaggeration. ”
In terms of drama, attraction and often-occurring comedy, the early marathon races have been brilliant. It originated in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and has never lacked legends since its inception, but has also been scandalous. It has a spectacular view like the London Olympics, but also a story that is ridiculous. At the first Athens Olympics in 1896, third-placer Spreeton Pollux was stripped of his medal because he did not run the full distance, but took a carriage ride. Four years later, at the Paris Olympics, the marathon route was so chaotic that runners could be seen everywhere in the center of Paris. American athlete Arthur Newton was fifth, but he declared that no one had ever surpassed him in the entire race. His compatriot Richard Grant said he was deliberately knocked down by a cyclist just as he was about to catch up with The First Group. The audience was also confused, because one runner named "Champion" and another runner named "Run Fast" finished third.
At the 1904 St. Louis Olympics, John Lulz arrived at the finish line 16 minutes ahead of the second runner, and he was greeted with enthusiastic applause from the audience and congratulations from first lady Alice Roosevelt, but after the second runner reached the finish line, Lultz admitted that he had actually quit the race when he ran nine miles, and then rode most of the remaining distance. Since then, Although Rouerz was nominally banned for life, he returned the following year. Again, in this competition, two black players competed. They became the first black athletes to compete in the Olympics, with one of the runners from South Africa finishing ninth, notably finishing all the races barefoot and being chased by a ferocious wild dog at one point, having to run as many as a mile off the track.
The race was played in a heat of 35 degrees, and thomas j hicks won the championship after canceling the results of the Ruerz, whose trainer said: "This is the toughest racing environment in human history". It can be said that Hicks finished the race with the help of ShiDanin (an exciting drug), egg whites and brandy, and he was actually carried over the finish line on a stretcher. (If this picture is well documented, then this isn't the first time he's been helped like this during a match.) ）
Then, the time came to the London 1908 Olympics, to the White City Arena, which was crowded with 100,000 people. There were several special people in the crowd, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a reporter for the Daily Mail, who wrote in his autobiography: "I don't often do journalistic work, but this time I have a good seat, so I was moved." Among the crowd was Queen Alexander of England, who was so excited about the match that she must have asked to be involved in the beginning and end of the game, and she not only watched the ending part in person, but also sent a telegram to the Princess of Wales to give orders for the start of the game.
The starting point of the race was originally set on a street outside Windsor Castle, but the princess (who is the grandmother of the current queen) wanted her children to see the game too, so she moved the starting point a few hundred yards to the castle, next to the nursery. At the same time, the Queen also wanted to see the end of the race, so the distance of the marathon increased to 26 miles and 385 yards, which became the official length until now. Previously, the length was between 25 and 26 miles. The new addition of 385 yards, while not much, has played a pivotal role.
The telegram arrived on time at 2:33 p.m., the princess gave the order to start the race, and 55 athletes began their journey along the crowded track. In London, people at the main stadium are cheering for the 110m hurdles, wrestling and diving matches. Unlike now, the Olympic swimming pool was located in the middle of the main stadium, inside the athletics field, so that spectators could enjoy the games at the same time. About every five minutes, after a mile of the marathon, the leader was named inside the main stadium: first Thomas Jack, then Jack Price, both of whom were British. Charles Hefron then maintained the lead for most of the second half of the race. The South African runner was still in the lead at 24 miles, and after he ran 24 miles through landmarks, a signal flare was fired into the sky to let those inside the main stadium know that their anxious wait was coming to an end. But Hefron was late and was overtaken by Italy's Dolando Pitley with two miles left. In the main stadium, people focused on the gate, waiting for the first player to appear.
Conan Doyle writes: "We were anxiously and eagerly awaiting, and there was a sudden commotion in the crowd, showing the uneasiness of everyone. The man was sure to come in through the distant door, and everyone's eyes were fixed on the direction of the gate. He was about to come in, and he was speeding up in the middle of the shouting crowd on both sides of the street. The muffled restlessness of the crowd grew louder and louder, every eye fixed on the doorway, and finally we saw his figure. ”
If what one wants to see is an Apennines, they're going to be amazed: Pitley is only 5 feet 2 inches, looks like a little chef making pasta, and looks noticeably much smaller than his real age of 22. Conan Doyle described him as a "very short man, like a little kid.") Pitley seemed to be overwhelmed by the momentum and cheers in the stadium, and he couldn't help but stop before shaking off the runway.
Seven years later, in an interview with an Italian magazine, Pitley said: "When I ran into the stadium, I could not bear the fatigue of my legs and the pain in my chest, as if a huge hand was tightly gripping my throat, and at this moment any willpower was useless." If it wasn't so uncomfortable, I wouldn't have fallen for the first time in a race. I stood up on my own and ran forward a few steps, not even knowing if I was running in the wrong direction. I was told that I had fallen five or six more times, like a paralyzed patient, staggering toward my wheelchair. I don't remember anything else, and after that fall, I don't remember anything. ”
After his first fall, three people came to his aid: track worker Jack Andrew (pictured holding a megaphone commonly used for comedy performances), Dr Michael Barg of the Irish Amateur Athletics Association and chief medical officer on race day. Their kindness ruined Pitley's chances of winning the title, and he has been criticized ever since. It wasn't until 50 years later, when Andrew's daughter was sorting through her father's belongings, that she discovered his explanation of the incident.
Pitley got on the runway, and he staggered a few steps and then fell. I told the people who wanted to go up and pull a hand, but Dr. Barg was already gone. I reminded him that this might disqualify Pitley, but he told me that although I was in charge of maintaining order on the track, I had to obey him. Every time Pitley fell, I had to grab his foot and the doctor massaged him to keep his heart beating. Every time he got up and continued to run, we had to prepare in the back, but we couldn't touch him, to prevent him from falling and then heading straight to the ground, and finally he crossed the finish line and fell into our arms. ”
Conan Doyle, whose seat was close to where Pitley fell for the second time, paid special tribute to the heroism of the Italians, writing: "The scene was terrifying, but shocking, and there was a strong contrast between a realistic goal and an exhausted body. Beside him, a few people bent down to help, and at a certain moment I saw a face shaped like a withered mallet, his eyes sluggish, his long black hair stranded through the bun. Obviously he couldn't keep playing any longer, he couldn't stand up at all. ”
Just then, the second runner ran into the stadium. His chest was stamped with a star-dotted striped flag: this was an American. He changed everything.
When the U.S. team first stepped into the venue during the opening ceremony, they were surprised to find that there was no flag of their own country on the roof covered with the flags of various countries. The organizers' explanation of this also made them difficult to understand: they could not find any American flag. Sweden's flag also did not appear in the stadium, so the Swedish team refused to participate in the opening ceremony. Although the American team attended the opening ceremony, they had their own way of fighting back: when all the athletes finally gathered in front of the Queen, the American team's standard-bearer Ralph Ross refused to comply with the rules, and although the organizers had found a flag for him at this time, he did not raise the flag, but calmly lowered it.
According to Amos Areenzo Stagge of the US Olympic delegation, this back and forth has caused a lot of friction between britain and the United States, and the two sides have quarreled continuously throughout the Olympic Games, of course, this may also indirectly become the reason for the excellent performance of the US delegation. The unpleasant vignette culminated in the 400m final, the day before the marathon, where the four runners in the final were three Americans and one Briton. Although an American player won the first place, he was judged to block Britain's Vidam Haswell and was cancelled. The tournament was therefore resumed, but two other Americans refused to compete, making it the first and so far the only time in Olympic history that it had won without a fight.
Under the tension between Britain and the United States, if only the Americans except Pitley can win the championship, then everyone in the scene hopes to help Pitley, which is more or less shown in the applause and glory given to Pitley by the British audience.
The American, named Jonnie Hayes, finished the game unsurprisingly and immediately appealed Pitley's question. However, the British news agency reported that Hayes had also received outside help before entering the stadium, coincidentally, the third Runner-up Hefron complained about the first two runners, but he said that if the Americans no longer appealed, he himself would withdraw the appeal request accordingly. In the end, Hefron dropped the appeal, but Hayes did not do so, and Pitley was disqualified. The Italians who interviewed Pittley considered such a decision to be "harsh and unforgiving." Hayes lay on a table, excited Americans carrying their heroes around the field. The manager of the American team said: "Isn't this a great victory? Although we have been treated unfairly before, the past is in the past. ”
Queen Alexander was so excited that the venue initially announced pitley's victory that she "kept banging on the floor of the audience with her umbrella", and after the final result, she insisted that Pitley's spirit should be encouraged, so at the closing ceremony, the Queen presented Pitley with a small silver cup. Pitley said: "When Her Majesty the Queen summoned me, I was extremely nervous, my whole body was trembling, and I fell to the ground almost as if I were in a race. Her tone was very kind, and although I could only understand one word she said, bravo (very good), I could understand what she was trying to say from her smile. This cup is a great comfort to my soul and something I will cherish for the rest of my life. ”
The Guardian reported this way of pitley: "Cheering is boundless. He went this way, as he had come, but not with the others, but alone. Behind him left an indelible impression on the hearts of the audience - it was a lone hero, no one was reluctant to give him the word "victory", and it was because of his audience that they had this rare and extraordinary enthusiasm.
Pitley is also said to have used some of the shitan in the middle of the schedule, but he blamed his withdrawal on eating too much steak at breakfast. Sports nutrition has made great strides over the past century, but it was still very backward at the time, as we can easily see from the words of joseph Forssa, who won the bronze medal. He also soaked his socks in beef fat for added comfort. "We took the usual method of the previous marathon, and ate a lot of steak, two raw eggs, a little bread, and some tea for breakfast. During the race we basically drank only water, only four miles from the finish line, I broke it, stitched it, and drank a little brandy. Generally speaking, I didn't want to drink, but at that time it was a last resort. ”
Although Pitley didn't speak any English, he was immediately offered a commercial contract to join a parade at a Concert Hall in London, where Conan Doyle did an investigation and found that 300 people had purchased the Daily Mail for the day. Pitley stayed in London for another two weeks, and when he was ready to return home, many people went to the station to see him off, and in his hometown of Turin, Italy, many people went to welcome him back, and in Turin he received another trophy.
From then on, Pitley's life will never return to what it was before. Three weeks after returning to Italy, in an accident, he was hit off a bicycle by a famous Italian wrestler and injured his leg, which greatly affected his athletics career.
Two months later, Pitley accepted the invitation and took a boat from Southampton to New York to once again confront Hayes at Madison Square Garden. He himself said he had "never trained again after the London Olympics marathon" and hoped to postpone the race to "give himself a chance to resume training," but the organizers did not accede to his request. This race was largely different from the previous one, with the two having to run 262 laps indoors and endure the smell of dust and smoke from spectators, but one thing remained the same: the rematch attracted 20,000 spectators to the stadium, and 10,000 spectators who could not buy tickets waited in disappointment outside the venue. The New York Times said it was "the best race in New York history," and pittley won by a lap-and-a-half margin. The two sides had another replay in March, with Pitley winning again uncontroversially.
Pitley had become so famous by this time that a young man in New York even wrote a song about him in which an Italian barber sold all his belongings and bet Pitley won. The lyrics go something like this: "He ran, ran, walked like a fly / Again, again, through the ringtone / I shouted: 'Please don't stop' / But just then, he unfortunately quit the race / Goodbye to my poor old barbershop." The songwriters earned $25 and later rose to fame, writing songs like "White Christmas" and "Entertainment First." He was Owen Berlin.
In October 1911, Pitley played his last tournament in Gothenburg. During his three-year career, he competed in 46 tournaments and received $200,000 in prize money. After retiring from the army, he and his brother opened a hotel in their hometown of Kalpi, later moved to Sanremo to run car repair, and died in 1942 at the age of 56.
In 1948, London hosted the Olympics again, and the Evening News published an interview with Pitley. Shocked and outraged by the article, 65-year-old Pitley, who runs a pub in Birmingham, sent a team of four led by the mayor to Britain to investigate and found that the bar owner had neither won any competition trophies, nor passports, nor even understood their dialect, according to the report. His name was Pieter Palesi and he came from a small town next to Pistoia, Italy. He was also imprisoned for fraud.
To this day, the people of Kalpi still do not forget Pitley, and four years ago, on the centenary of the London Olympics, a statue of him was built in the city center, named Champion Dolando. Pitley wrote: "Although I lost the championship and went down a long road, I gained fame and this game makes me feel very happy to this day, as if it was God's will." ”
The Guardian reported on 25 July 1908
In yesterday's marathon, American JJ Hayes won the championship. The tournament starts at Windsor Castle, with a focus on the Olympic main stadium, which is 25 miles and 385 yards long. A total of 55 players from 16 countries participated in the competition. The race starts at 2:30 p.m. and the temperature is high.
The first runner to run into the stadium was Italy's Dolando, but he fell four times on the track and was the first to reach the finish line with the help of others. Hayes trailed Dolando by about 80 yards and crossed the finish line in second place, with South Africa's Hoffron in third place. After the match, because Dolando received outside help in the game, the referee accepted the complaints of other players, canceled Dolando's results, and Hayes won the championship, and his final result was two hours, 55 minutes, 18.2-5 seconds.
There were rumors last night that Dolando died suddenly after the game because he was overexpended during the game, but this statement has now been confirmed as a rumor. Although Dolando was seriously unwell in the final moments of the game, he recovered at 9 p.m. last night, walked out of the stadium, and returned to the station on a taxi. Hayes also left the stadium earlier last night, and so far none of the players in the tournament have developed serious physical condition.
The British government held a dinner last night, inviting representatives of various countries who came to Britain to participate in the Olympic Games, sir Edward Gray, to attend the dinner. At the dinner, Lord Deisburg announced that the Queen of England wanted to award Dolando a trophy for his spirit in the marathon, and although he did not win the final championship, his actions proved that he should be the de facto winner. The Queen hopes to use this personal act to express her appreciation for the Italian player.
Although the marathon was held on British soil, the British runners who occupied the best time and place still failed to win the race. In the previous competitions, we were not able to win due to the problem of qualification, but now that this problem has been solved, many people think that this is a good opportunity for us to achieve good results. But in the end, we were beaten by our own weather, and the best result was only 13th. The not-so-tall Italian Dorando collapsed before the finish line and finished the race with the help of others, sparking unpleasantness and protests from others, but he didn't seem to feel the heat at all until he reached the last mile. In addition, South African Hefron, American Hayes, and even Swede Swanberg did not seem to feel as uncomfortable as the British players. The success of the Americans may require us to re-recognize this country, where they have tireless track and field athletes who can still occupy three of the top five in such hot weather. The process of this marathon has produced a warm and dramatic scene, which has raised the historical status of the marathon.
Before the race, Londoners learned that the race would start at Windsor Castle, and they rushed to the stations on Baker Street and Paddington to take the train to Windsor. The Prince of Wales fired the starting gun, and the Prince of Sweden set off with 55 runners. Among the contestants was an Indian from Canada whose participation caused a lot of controversy before the start of the tournament. Duncan, from Salford, is a strong contender for the title and he easily takes the lead after the start of the race. During the race, everywhere the train could reach, it was crowded with spectators. Half the people in the city of London almost came out to watch the game, which of course included a lot of police forces to maintain order. There were also many spectators from the United States and other countries who came to London, holding the flags of their respective countries, but the number of French spectators was small because there were no French players participating. After two o'clock in the afternoon, the day seemed to be getting hotter, and as the race was halfway through, no one felt that a new record could be produced in this race. Before the marathon runners reached the main stadium where they reached the finish line, there were some mat races arranged in the stadium, but they were all boring, and the 70,000 spectators in the stadium were silent, and only the diving and pole vaulting competitions aroused their little interest. It was clear that all the spectators were imagining the wonderful ending of the marathon. The hot summer days add a little color to the stadium, and on the sunny side of the stadium, shadows and sunlight divide the stadium into a wisp of shape. The sight was in stark contrast to the previous week, when it was raining heavily and only a small number of spectators had to gather and curl up under umbrellas, and now they were using the newspaper in their hands as a fan, as if it were too hot to bear.
At three o'clock, the stadium looked like it was full, and the crowd was still moving down the aisle, hoping to find a spot. The contestants could not reach the stadium until five o'clock at the earliest, and the spectators had to try to enjoy the other two hours of competition, the Americans had the advantage in the 110-meter hurdles, and the spectators were happy to appreciate it, sincerely cheering for the players, without any malice.
A wild swan sang a tune-out-of-tune, rumors of the game flew around, and people anxiously and nervously waited for the first athlete to come to the stadium. The route to entry was already vacant, and it was felt that the champion should be able to rush into the field as fast as possible, race around the track, and then cross the line. He may be a little tired, but it will definitely not affect the course of the game. However, people end up seeing a completely different picture. A group of order-keeping staff came from both sides of the runway, and then a scrawny man was seen stumbling into the field with a handkerchief tied to his head. One could see his face through a telescope, as if asleep, and with a frantic expression. It was clear that he had almost lost consciousness. He staggered forward along the cement runway, being pushed by the people behind him in the direction of the finish line. He could only mechanically raise his legs and let the people behind him push him so that he could barely move forward. He was still able to keep running, and perhaps deep down he seemed to know he should run forward.
Dolando collapsed at the bend, and the people next to him picked him up and continued to push him forward, but he fell down again. This time, as if someone was encouraging him with words, Dolando stood up, but he didn't really have the ability anymore. When he fell again, a large crowd gathered around him, the stadium dispatched police to disperse the crowd, and unfortunately Dolando was once again helped up and headed for the finish line.
In the short quarter-mile from entering the stadium to crossing the finish line, Dolando fell a total of five times, and in the end, he lay on the ground, just 25 yards from the finish line. At this time, the American Hayes ran into the stadium. Dolando, though exhausted, seemed to understand the importance of the news, so he struggled to get up again, almost half-supporting, half-running to the finish line, and then he lay down completely on the ground. Hayes did it on his own, but failed to catch the first wave of cheers from the crowd. The cheers were given to the Italians first. The Italian flag flies on the stadium, and the American flag is below it.
For enthusiastic viewers, such an ending is admired, and people see the perseverance in the face of adversity. However, an athlete must complete the competition independently. If he falls during a game, others can lift him up, but not help him move forward. Apparently, the Italian Dorando finished the race with the help of others, and the kindness of these people also completely ruined his chances of winning the championship. In the end, the American Hayes filed a complaint and was approved by the referee, and Hayes eventually won the championship, which should not have happened.