Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A statue of Pheidippides on the route from Marathon to Athens Burton Holmes' photograph entitled "1896: Three athletes in training for the marathon at the Olympic Games in Athens". The 1896 Olympic Marathon was the precursor to the Athens Classic Marathon. Runners competing in the 1980 Athens Marathon, won by Jean-Paul Didim
Pheidippides (Ancient Greek: Φειδιππίδης, Ancient Greek pronunciation: [pʰeː.dip.pí.dɛːs], Modern Greek: [fi.ðiˈpi.ðis] lit. ' Son of Pheídippos ') or Philippides (Φιλιππίδης) is the central figure in the story that inspired the marathon race.
A creation of the French philologist Michel Bréal inspired by a story from Ancient Greece, the marathon was one of the original modern Olympic events in 1896 in Athens. The distance did not become standardized until 1921. The distance is also included in the World Athletics Championships, which began in 1983. It is the only running road race ...
Marathon (Demotic Greek: Μαραθώνας, Marathónas; Attic/Katharevousa: Μαραθών, Marathṓn) is a town in Greece and the site of the Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE, in which the heavily outnumbered Athenian army defeated the Persians.
[14] In 1896, at the first modern Olympics, the very first modern-day marathon was run. To honor the history of Greek running, Greece chose a course that would mimic the route run by Athenian army. The route started at a bridge in the town of Marathon and ended in the Olympic stadium. Another event in the ancient Olympic Games was the pentathlon.
Michel Bréal originated the idea of a race from the city of Marathon to Athens, taking inspiration from the legend of Pheidippides.The first such marathon race was a Greek national competition that served as a qualifier for the Olympic marathon, won by Charilaos Vasilakos.
Spartathlon is a 246-kilometre (153 mi) ultramarathon race held annually in Greece since 1983, between Athens and Sparti, the modern town on the site of ancient Sparta. The Spartathlon is based on the run of Pheidippides , [ 1 ] who ran from Athens to Sparta before the Battle of Marathon in a day and a half to seek aid against the Persians.
Charilaos Vasilakos (Greek: Χαρίλαος Βασιλάκος, November 1875 – 1 December 1964) [1] [4] was a Greek athlete and the first man to win a marathon race. [5] He also won a copper medal [ a ] for second place finish at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens .