When the Olympics Decided Water Was Bad and Poison Was Good

The 1904 Olympic Marathon in St. Louis remains the most catastrophic Olympic event ever held, when organizer James E. Sullivan deliberately withheld water from runners in 90-degree heat as a “scientific experiment” to study dehydration. Of 32 starters, only 14 finished the dusty 24.85-mile course that wound through traffic on dirt roads. Thomas Hicks “won” after his trainers fed him multiple doses of strychnine sulfate (rat poison) mixed with brandy and egg whites, causing him to hallucinate the entire last mile while they literally carried him across the finish line.

Other highlights include Felix Carvajal stopping mid-race to eat rotten apples and taking a nap, Fred Lorz hitchhiking 11 miles then trying to claim victory, Len Tau being chased off course by wild dogs, and William Garcia nearly dying from internal hemorrhaging caused by dust inhalation. The race was so disastrous it almost got the marathon removed from future Olympics, yet Sullivan declared it a complete success for his dehydration research.

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