The History of the Marathon

The marathon is one of the most famous and demanding events in athletics, combining physical endurance with a history that reaches back more than two thousand years. Today, a marathon is a road race covering exactly 42.195 kilometres (26 miles 385 yards), but the event’s origins lie in a mixture of ancient Greek history and later legend. Unlike many Olympic sports, the marathon was not actually an event in the ancient Olympic Games. Instead, it was created for the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, inspired by the story of a Greek messenger associated with the Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE. Since then, the marathon has developed from a relatively obscure athletic experiment into a worldwide sporting phenomenon involving elite athletes and millions of recreational runners.

The historical inspiration for the marathon comes from the Greco-Persian Wars. In 490 BCE, an invading Persian army landed near Marathon, about 40 kilometres northeast of Athens. The Athenians and their allies from Plataea confronted the much larger Persian force and won an important victory at the Battle of Marathon. According to the ancient historian Herodotus, before the battle an Athenian professional runner named Pheidippides—also called Philippides in some accounts—was sent from Athens to Sparta to request military assistance. This was an extraordinary journey of roughly 240 kilometres, which he reportedly completed in about two days. Herodotus, writing several decades after the battle, does not describe Pheidippides running from Marathon to Athens to announce the victory.

The famous story of the shorter run appeared in later traditions. According to the legend, after the Athenians defeated the Persians, a messenger ran from the battlefield at Marathon to Athens to announce the victory. On reaching the city, he supposedly declared a message meaning “We have won!” before collapsing and dying from exhaustion. The identity of this messenger varies among ancient sources, and the story was recorded long after the battle. Nevertheless, the dramatic image of a lone runner carrying news of victory became deeply embedded in Western culture. During the nineteenth century, growing European fascination with ancient Greece helped transform the legend into the inspiration for a new endurance race.

The modern marathon was created as part of the revival of the Olympic Games. French scholar and educator Michel Bréal, a friend of Olympic founder Pierre de Coubertin, suggested holding a long-distance race based on the legendary journey from Marathon to Athens. His idea was accepted for the first modern Olympic Games, held in Athens in 1896. Before the Olympics, Greece held a qualifying marathon to select its runners. The Olympic marathon itself took place on 10 April 1896, with competitors running approximately 40 kilometres from Marathon to the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens.

The winner was Spyridon Louis, a 23-year-old Greek water carrier who became an instant national hero. Louis completed the race in 2 hours, 58 minutes and 50 seconds. His victory was particularly celebrated because Greece, despite hosting the Games and having a deep connection to the ancient Olympics, had not won many of the most prestigious events. As Louis entered the stadium, the crowd erupted in celebration, and members of the Greek royal family reportedly accompanied him during the final portion of his run around the track. His victory helped establish the marathon as one of the signature events of the modern Olympic Games.

At first, however, there was no standard marathon distance. Early Olympic marathons were generally around 40 kilometres, but the exact length varied depending on the route used. The distance that is familiar today emerged from the 1908 Olympic Games in London. The race was arranged to begin at Windsor Castle and finish inside White City Stadium. The resulting course measured 26 miles and 385 yards, or 42.195 kilometres. The distance was not immediately adopted everywhere, but in 1921 the International Amateur Athletic Federation, now known as World Athletics, officially standardized the marathon at 42.195 kilometres.

The 1908 Olympic marathon also produced one of the most famous incidents in the event’s history. Italian runner Dorando Pietri entered the stadium first but was completely exhausted. He repeatedly collapsed while attempting to complete the final lap and was helped by officials. Pietri crossed the finish line ahead of the other runners but was disqualified because he had received assistance. American Johnny Hayes was declared the Olympic champion. Although Pietri lost the race, his courageous struggle captured international attention and helped make marathon running enormously popular.

During the twentieth century, marathon racing expanded far beyond the Olympic Games. Several major city marathons became important annual sporting events. The Boston Marathon, first held in 1897, is the oldest continuously held annual marathon and became one of the most prestigious races in the world. Other famous races emerged in cities including New York, London, Berlin, Chicago and Tokyo. These events eventually became huge public spectacles, attracting elite professional athletes alongside tens of thousands of amateur runners.

For much of its early history, competitive marathon running was overwhelmingly considered a male activity. Women were often discouraged or formally prohibited from competing in long-distance races because of mistaken beliefs that endurance running was unsuitable or dangerous for them. This began to change dramatically during the 1960s and 1970s. Bobbi Gibb unofficially completed the Boston Marathon in 1966 after being denied an official entry. The following year, Kathrine Switzer officially entered using her initials, K. V. Switzer. During the race, an official attempted to remove her from the course, but she continued and finished. Images of the incident became famous and contributed to the campaign for greater opportunities for women in distance running.

Women were officially permitted to enter the Boston Marathon in 1972, and women’s marathon running continued to grow internationally. A major milestone came at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, when the women’s marathon was included in the Olympics for the first time. American runner Joan Benoit won the inaugural Olympic women’s marathon in 2 hours, 24 minutes and 52 seconds. Her victory demonstrated the extraordinary level of women’s endurance running and marked an important step toward greater equality in athletics.

Modern marathon performances have improved enormously because of advances in training, sports science, nutrition, footwear and professional competition. Elite male marathon runners now complete the distance in just over two hours, while elite women run well below two hours and twenty minutes. East African athletes, particularly runners from Kenya and Ethiopia, have become dominant figures in international marathon competition. One of the most celebrated modern marathoners is Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge, who set an official world record of 2:01:09 at the 2022 Berlin Marathon. In 2019, he also became the first person to cover the marathon distance in under two hours, recording 1:59:40.2 in Vienna. Because the event used special pacing arrangements and other conditions that did not satisfy normal competition rules, the performance was not recognized as an official world record, but it demonstrated that the two-hour barrier could be broken.

The marathon today is much more than an elite sporting competition. Major races can include tens of thousands of ordinary runners, many of whom spend months training simply to complete the distance. People participate to challenge themselves, raise money for charities, commemorate personal experiences or pursue ambitious fitness goals. The marathon has therefore retained the symbolism that inspired its creation in 1896: endurance, determination and the ability to continue despite extreme fatigue.

From the ancient Battle of Marathon to the crowded streets of modern cities, the marathon has undergone a remarkable transformation. Its famous origin story may contain more legend than historical fact, but that legend inspired one of the defining events of modern athletics. What began as an attempt to recreate the heroic journey of an ancient Greek messenger has become a global sporting tradition. More than a century after Spyridon Louis entered the stadium in Athens, completing a marathon remains one of the most widely recognized tests of human endurance and perseverance.

Advertisement:

No products found.

We get commissions for purchases made through links on this website. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.