Jack P Taylor's Political And Historical Curiosities

The olympics as we know them today are a rather modern phenomenon, peculiarly mixing 'amateur' athletics with a very professionally run programme of events. The 1904 St. Louis olympics were in every sense amateur. With very few participants generally, and barely any foreign competitors specifically.  Yet one event, the Marathon, was spectacularly crap and can reasonably claim the title of the worst olympic event ever. However it is also featured a number of firsts, including the first black participants. This episode looks at the St. Louis events generally and then narrows down on to what made the Marathon such a terrible event. Looking at the stories of some of the more characterful participants. I hope very much that you enjoy.