Athens April 1896, Games of the I Olympiad. Spyridon LOUIS of Greece, winner of the marathon. Credit: IOC Olympic Museum Collections

Other names: LOUIS, Spiridon

Born: 12 January 1873

Deceased: 26 March 1940

Birthplace: Maroussi (Greece)

Nationality: Greece

Sport: Athletics

ATTENDANCE AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES

Athens 1896

AWARDS

Olympic medals:

Gold: 1

The First Marathon Champion of the Modern Games

Born on 12 January 1873 in Maroussi near Athens, Spyridon Louis, a 24-year-old Greek shepherd, became the real hero of the 1896 Games. There was no event that the Greek hosts wanted more to win than the 40,000m marathon race, which was created to honor the legend of Pheidippides, who allegedly carried the news of the Greek victory at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC by running from Marathon to Athens. On 10 April 1896, Louis, wearing shoes that had been donated by his fellow villagers, set off from Marathon with sixteen other runners. He took the lead four kilometres from the Panathenaic Stadium and, to the great joy of the 100,000 spectators in and around the stadium, won the race by more than seven minutes. Forty years later, Louis recalled the moments after his victory: "That hour was something unimaginable and it still appears to me in my memory like a dream…. Twigs and flowers were raining down on me. Everybody was calling out my name and throwing their hats in the air…."