Gyula Kellner of Hungary came in third with a time of 3:09:35 ("1896 Olympics: Athens," 2000). The Athens marathon is still considered to be the original marathon and the 2004 Olympics will be held there ("Athens Marathon,"2003). .
Following the marathon in Greece, a gold medal sprinter for the United States named Tom Burke decided to have the first American marathon (Hanc, 1996). The marathon was held in 1897 and was called the Boston Marathon (Hanc, 1996). The race was held on April 18th to commemorate the memory of Paul Revere ("The History of The Marathon," 2003). The Boston Athletic Association came up with three rules for the marathon ("The Boston Marathon," 1974). These three were rules were that all competitors must be registered by the American Athletic Union, the competitor must be at least 19 years old and the runner must be able to complete the marathon within a three and a half hour time limit ("The Boston Marathon," 1974). J.J. McDermott, of New York, won the race and broke Spiros Louces time by 30 seconds ("Original Coverage of The First Boston Marathon,"1897). McDermott received a standing ovation as he came around the track ("Original Coverage of The First Boston Marathon,"1897). .
The modern marathon distance, 26.2 miles, was established in 1908 at the London Olympic Marathon when Queen Alexandra requested that the royal family be able to view the race from their home (Cox, 2001). Dorando Pietri took first place at the 1908 Olympics but was disqualified after officials argued about whether it was legal for him to be practically carried over the finish line ("1908 Olympics: London," 2003). Johnny Hayes of the United States was declared the new winner and remained the last American to win the marathon in the Olympics for sixty-four years (Hanc, 1996). .
John Hanc (1996) explains that in the 1920s running became more popular as a result of Hayes's victory and in the late 1960s and early 1970s running picked up even more due to a growing interest in health and fitness.
