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Verify: Are the 1904 St. Louis Olympic Marathon myths true?

Cheating? Poison? Wild dogs? Fact or fiction?

ST. LOUIS — Just south of where Shaftesbury Avenue meets North and South Road lies a large sign, a marker commemorating the 1904 St. Louis Olympic Marathon. Although that intersection was just a slice of the route 114 years ago, the hot and dusty race faced a litany of issues.

First, the rural route was full of dusty roads. It was also held on a hot 90-degree afternoon in August. On top of the mucky conditions, there was one -- yes, one -- water stop for the entire race, all because organizers wanted to test the effects of dehydration.

Yeah, the 1904 gladiators, er, runners, were guinea pigs.

THEN….

There was Cuban runner Felix Carbajal de Soto. He lost all his money gambling in New Orleans on the way to St. Louis. He had to hitch-hike to get to the Games. With no money, he ran in street clothes.

Two South African runners were added last minute, ran barefoot, and one was chased off the course by wild dogs.

According to the Smithsonian, one runner nearly died after the dust coated his esophagus and ripped his stomach lining.

And TJ Hicks was a runner with trainers who, during the race, gave him egg whites, brandy and strychnine — aka rat poison — for 'performance enhancers.'

But the real whopper came via Fred Lorz.

“Fred Lorz is the first guy who crosses the finish line. The crowd erupts and cheers," said Jody Sowell, the Missouri History Museum's director of exhibitions and research.

But there was a big a problem. Lorz hitched a ride in a car for at least 10 miles of the race ... because of cramps.

“People said ‘You were trying to cheat and get a gold medal by trying to ride in a car.' He insisted it was a practical joke and planned on telling everyone later," said Sowell.

So Lorz lost his title.

Who actually won? Our poisoned pro, Hicks — who lost 8 pounds and had to be carried across the finish line.

“He put into his body both Strychnine and warm water from a radiator he out of a car," said Larry Kindbom, head football coach at Washington University.

And the real kick to the gut? It wasn't an actual 'marathon.'

“It was only 24. 8 miles. So it wasn’t even truly a marathon," said Kindbom.

Consider it verified. Probably all the myths you've heard about the infamous race are true. The 1904 St. Louis Olympic marathon was likely the most extreme and bizarre Olympic event in history.

“It was so bad that Jane Sullivan, the director of the games, afterwards said, ‘Maybe we should never have another Marathon in the Olympics because it was sort of man-killing in effect,'" said Sowell.

And in case you were wondering, even after stopping to take a nap at one point during the race, our Cuban, street-clothes wearing, hitch-hiking hero, Carbajal, finished fourth.

As for Fred Lorz? The 'prankster' won the Boston Marathon the next year ... without cheating.

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