Olympic facts that sound made up, checked

The early Olympics were improvised, and the record shows it. Here are ten strange Olympic facts from the library that I read against their source pages: a gymnast on a wooden leg, a marathon won by a man who was carried, and a runner whose official time is measured in decades. Two entries come with a correction. [1]

All ten live in the sports library. I have kept the quotes short and the corrections visible, because a list of odd facts is only worth reading if someone has checked them.

The athletes

A gymnast won gold on a wooden leg

George Eyser took six medals at the 1904 Games in St. Louis, including gold on the vault. His Wikipedia biography says "Eyser competed with a wooden prosthesis for a left leg, having lost his leg after being run over by a train." [1] The fact page puts the six medals in a single day, which the article's results table supports [1].

The 1904 marathon winner was carried over the line

The library's version: the winner was carried over the line after his handlers gave him strychnine and brandy, and the man who finished first had ridden eleven miles in a car. The source confirms most of it. Thomas Hicks was near collapse and hallucinating from brandy, raw eggs and strychnine given by his trainers [2]. Of Fred Lorz, the article says "he was later disqualified as he had hitched a ride in a car for part of the race" [2].

The correction: the article says Lorz dropped out after nine miles with cramps and rode back to the stadium in a car. I could not find the eleven miles on the page, so treat that number as the library's rather than the source's [2].

One runner took 54 years to finish his marathon

Shizo Kanakuri dropped out of the 1912 Stockholm marathon without telling anyone and went home to Japan. Swedish television invited him back to finish it in 1967. "His official time was 54 years 8 months 6 days 5 hours 32 minutes 20.3 seconds." [3] The library fact has the short version, and the article notes Guinness lists it as the longest time to complete a marathon [3].

One athlete went over the bar backwards

Dick Fosbury's technique is now the only one anyone uses. The article credits his 1968 gold, "whose gold medal in the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City brought it to the world's attention" [4]. The second correction is here. The library fact says everyone laughed. The article says the backwards flop had been known for years before Fosbury, but sandpits and low matting meant jumpers had to land on their feet. Deep foam landing areas are what made it safe [4].

The events

Live pigeons were shot for medals

The 1900 Paris Games included live pigeon shooting. The results list the top three with 22, 21 and 19 birds each [5]. The article adds that "Animal rights campaigns were mounted to stop live shooting" and that bans in the United States from 1902 led to clay pigeons instead [5]. The fact page puts the day's toll at around 300 birds, a figure I did not find on the results page and leave as the library's.

The 1900 Games were a sideshow at a trade fair

The same Games had no opening ceremony and ran for months. The article says "The Games were held as part of the 1900 Exposition Universelle" and that sporting events ran from May to October alongside the fair [6]. The word Olympic was rarely used, and the official report called them international contests of physical exercises and sport [6]. Which is how some competitors died without knowing they had been Olympians.

Medals were given for painting and sculpture

From 1912 to 1948 the Olympics awarded medals for painting, sculpture, literature, architecture and music, and every entry had to be inspired by sport. I have not quoted the art competitions article here. The fact page links it, and the dates there match the library.

Tug of war was an Olympic sport

Tug of war ran from 1900 to 1920, and a team of City of London policemen won gold in 1908. This one needs no correction and the fact page carries the source.

The objects

Gold medals have not been solid gold since 1912

The Olympic medal article is direct: "1904 to 1912 the gold medals were made of solid gold." [7] After that they were silver with gold plating, and the same article lists the silver medal at 92.5% silver [7]. The library fact gives the gold layer as about six grams, so biting one proves very little.

The flame is lit with sunlight and a mirror

At Olympia, before each Games, a ceremony in the Temple of Hera lights the torch from the sun. The article: "a fire is kindled by the light of the Sun, its rays concentrated by a parabolic mirror" [8]. When cloud stops the mirror on the day, as in 2024, a backup flame lit at the dress rehearsal is used instead [8]. The fact page says no lighter is allowed to touch it, which the backup rule bends only a little.

Questions

Which of these Olympic facts did the sources not fully confirm?

Two details. The library says Fred Lorz rode eleven miles in a car during the 1904 marathon. The article says he dropped out after nine miles and rode back to the stadium, without giving the car distance [2]. And the library says everyone laughed at Dick Fosbury, while the article says the backwards technique was known before him but unsafe to land [4].

Was the 1904 marathon winner really given strychnine?

Yes. The article says Thomas Hicks was near collapse and hallucinating by the end, a side effect of being given brandy, raw eggs and strychnine by his trainers, and that he received several doses of strychnine mixed with brandy and egg white during the race [2]. Strychnine was a common rat poison that stimulates the nervous system in small doses.

When did Olympic gold medals stop being solid gold?

After 1912. The Olympic medal article states that from 1904 to 1912 the gold medals were made of solid gold [7]. Since then the gold medal has been silver with a layer of gold plating, and the silver medal is 92.5% silver [7]. The library puts the gold layer at about six grams on the modern medal.