The 1904 St. Louis Olympics Were Memorable For A Variety Of Reasons [PHOTOS]

Amanda Clark, community tours manager for the Missouri History Museum, shared some stories and facts of the 1904 St. Louis Olympics. Coinciding with the 1904 World's Fair, the event is a big part of St. Louis history. The 1904 Olympics was also the first time the games were hosted outside of Europe.

Photos by Missouri Historical Society https://www.flickr.com/photos/mohistory/with/51254594605/

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The men's marathon was straight up bonkers.
The 1904 Olympics hosted a 24-mile marathon in 90 degree weather. Not only was it hot outside, there were only two hydration stations due to one of the organizers wanting to conduct an experiment on dehydration.

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The marathon started on Francis Field at Washington University, but continued on dusty tracks.

The dust was so thick that it forced some participants to quit.

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St. Louis had the first African participants in the Olympics.

Len Tau, left, and Jan Mashiani, right, of the Tswana tribe of South Africa were the first African participants the games had.

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The first documented case of stimulants in the Olympics was in St. Louis.

Thomas Hicks, who went on to win the men's marathon, had to be injected with strychnine. Hicks' trainers dosed him with small amounts throughout the race when he began to get tired. Strychnine was both a common rat poison and stimulant. Hicks also received a combination of brandy and egg whites when he began to get sick toward the end of the race.

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Hicks went on to win the men's marathon.

He lost eight pounds over the course of the marathon. Many of the other participants had to drop out due to the heat or other conditions of the race.

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In fact, over 30 people from four different nations participated in the men's marathon.

But only fourteen actually finished the race.

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A person crossed the finish line before Thomas Hicks, but wasn't the winner.

One man, Fred Lorz, quit at the nine mile mark and was driven to the finish line. He got out of the car, jogged across the finish line and was declared the winner. As celebrations began, one official called Lorz out and he quickly claimed he was playing a practical joke.

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Another participant probably could have won if he didn't keep stopping.

Felix Carvajal, from Cuba, arrived at the games after hitchhiking from New Orleans. He had gambled all his money away upon his arrival in St. Louis. The Cuban made it to the race, but stopped to playfully steal a peach from an Olympic official. After that snack, he stopped again at an apple orchard. The apples he ate there, however, were rotten. This caused him to have a stomachache, and he laid down for a nap on the track before continuing on the race. He finished in fourth place.

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The Olympics came to St. Louis after organizers wanted the games to coincide with the World's Fair.

The World's Fairs often had anthropology exhibits, with Clark saying they could be described as "human zoos." What was unique about the 1904 World's Fair was that St. Louis incorporated Anthropology Days into the Olympics. The games had one day that they took the tribes from around the world and competed them against each other and then against white athletes to "prove the superiority of white men," Clark said. In this photo, American Indians can be seen practicing archery for these competitions, although they were not trained athletes.

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Women were only allowed to compete in one event: archery.

The woman that won the event was one of the top archers of all time: Lida Scott Howell. Scott Howell won three gold medals in St. Louis.