The Most Disastrous Olympic Race in History

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]Okay, picture [music] this. It's 1904 and 32 athletes line up for the Olympic marathon in St. Louis. The temperature is hovering around 32° C, 90° F.

[00:00:11]There's one water stop, cars are kicking up clouds of choking dust, [music] and by the end of the day only 14 competitors will finish. The first man across the line, a cheater who rode in a car. [music] The actual winner, poisoned by his own team and carried across the finish line. This is the story of the most disastrous race in Olympic history.

[00:00:33]The race was held in St. Louis, Missouri in hot summer [music] heat with oppressive humidity. The 32 athletes came from across the globe. The course distance back then was 40 km, almost 25 mi, and this one held on unpaved dirt roads. Officials and spectators followed in cars, kicking up massive clouds of dust that choked the runners. And the organizers, following misguided athletic science, provided only one water station at the 19 km mark, believing athletes performed better dehydrated. They were so wrong. But how did this race go from a test of endurance [music] to a complete farce? The first man to cross the finish line was American Fred Lorz, looking suspiciously fresh. The crowd roared. Alice Roosevelt, President Theodore Roosevelt's daughter, [music] placed the laurel wreath on his head and was reaching for the gold medal when an official sprinted up shouting that Lorz was a fraud. The truth was that he dropped out almost halfway through with cramps. He hitched a ride in a car for 17 km, and when the car broke down, he jogged the last few kilometers. He later claimed it was all a joke, but he'd accepted the cheers, the wreath, and was seconds away from Olympic gold. [music] With the cheater disqualified, who was the real winner? It was Thomas Hicks, another American who'd crossed [music] second. But Hicks wasn't celebrating. He was delirious, begging for water and barely able to stand. [music] His trainers admitted that instead of water, they'd been dosing him with brandy, raw eggs, and strychnine, a substance we know today as rat poison, but then considered a legitimate performance [music] stimulant. Hicks was actually running on poison and alcohol.

[00:02:18]His trainers had to physically support him, practically carrying him over the finish line as he stumbled forward.

[00:02:24]Thomas Hicks was declared the winner. He had lost 3 and 1/2 kilos or 8 lb during the race and nearly died from the ordeal, requiring immediate medical attention. The 1904 marathon was a comedy of errors that forced Olympic organizers to overhaul safety protocols.

[00:02:42]And as for the cheater, Fred Lorz, well, he was banned, but the ban was lifted months later. He went on to win the actual Boston marathon the next year, proving that he could have just run the whole race to begin with. Thanks for watching. Follow me here at Hoody History for more incredible stories from the past.