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The Wackiest Marathon in History
The 1904 St. Louis Olympics were the first in North America — they also hosted one of the weirdest races ever run
The 1904 Olympics would be the first outside of Europe. After Athens in 1896 and Paris in 1900, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) wanted their grand event to move to North America.
After the usual selection process, the IOC awarded the Games to… Chicago!
Unfortunately for Illinois, St. Louis, the State of Missouri, and the Federal Government had already committed more than US$15,000,000 to their grand Louisiana Purchase Exposition (that’s US$432,081,567 in today’s money).
They would not have their self-congratulating festivities be overshadowed by pesky Greek antics, and particularly not by Chicago!
So they did what any rational people would do. They blackmailed Chicago and the IOC. They started to plan for their own sporting events and threatened the world that their event would “eclipse the Olympic Games unless they were moved to St. Louis.”[Wikipedia]
