There marathon it is perhaps the most iconic running race but its history is far from linear. Today, Sunday 2 November, the 2025 edition of the famous New York marathon will take place at 2.30pm Italian time. The legend was born in 490 BC with Philippidesthe Greek messenger who, according to myth, ran about 40 km from Marathon to Athens to announce the victory over the Persians, dying immediately afterwards. Despite these ancient roots, the marathon was never part of the ancient Olympic Games, at most athletes competed in sweeta run of a few kilometers. Its introduction occurred only in 1896, at the first modern Olympics in Athens, at the suggestion of the scholar Michel Bréal to Pierre de Coubertin. The distance was set at approx 40kmprecisely to pay homage to Philippides’ race. But then, where do those weirdos come from? 195 final meters that define today’s official distance? The answer lies in the changes, at the behest of the royal family, made to the course during the 1908 London Olympics.
The evolution of the marathon
The inspiration for the modern marathon comes from an ancient legend: that of Philippidesa Greek messenger who ran from Marathon to Athens (about 40 km) in 490 BC to announce victory over the Persians, dying from the effort soon after.
The marathon did not immediately enter the list of Olympic disciplines, indeed, for almost two millennia after the infamous race of Philippides no one thought of formalizing this competition. The first official appearance took place during the first modern Olympics in 1896 to Athens. The credit for this innovation must be attributed, in all likelihood, to Michel Bréal, a French linguist and Hellenic scholar well known at the time. Bréal had relations with the baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the first modern Olympic Games and co-founder of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It was precisely to the latter who suggested, in view of the historic event, to include the “marathon” as a tribute to the hemerodromo which completed one for the first time, albeit unknowingly. It was then decided to organize a 40km race, calculating the approximate distance between the two cities that Philippides crossed.
Considering the fact that this was a completely new event, one was organized trial a few weeks before the Games, specifically the March 22, 1986. In what was, to all intents and purposes, the first appearance of the marathon, only Greek athletes participated and the winner appears to have finished the course in three hours and a quarter or little more. Subsequently, during the official Olympic competition, the first gold medal was won by Spyridon Louis with a time just below three hours.
In the following years, the marathon was the subject of adjustments And changesespecially following various critical issues that arose from time to time. For example, in the following edition of the Olympic Games (Paris 1900), the route was the subject of many doubts. First of all, the distance had not been calculated accurately, but rather summarily and approximately and, above all, the route was little reported: some athletes, in fact, lost their way and found themselves wandering through the city streets.
The first marathon 42.195 km long
The turning point in this story came on the occasion of London Olympics of 1908. A rough route was defined with a starting point immediately outside the gates of the Windsor Castle and I arrive at White City Stadiumin the Shepherd’s Bush neighborhood.
Even in this case, however, there was no shortage of doubts and subsequent adjustments. In fact, although this path had already been made known and formalized, it was decided to change both the starting point and the arrival point. The start was moved slightly in order to have the marathon start from the castle garden and not from outside. The reasons are unclear, some believe that the request came from real who wanted to see the race from their windows, others maintain that the organization wanted to avoid too crowded a crowd at the starting line. The finish line, however, was modified by moving the entrance to the stadium and the direction of travel (from anti-clockwise to clockwise) of the athletics track that the runners would have to travel along.
Presumably, the total distance of the route following these changes was 42km and 195m.
The next Olympic marathon, that of Stockholm In the 1912it was again a couple of kilometers shorter. This arbitrariness is justified by the absence, for a short time, of official standardizations. In fact, it was precisely in that year that the IAAF (Today World Athletics) or the International Athletics Federation, which in May of 1921in accordance with the THAT ISdecreed that every marathon from then on should have a length similar to that run in London and, therefore, exactly 42,195km.
