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Monday, April 27, 2015

Marathon

The Marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres (26 miles and 385 yards),usually run as a road race

The event was instituted in commemoration of the fabled run of the Greek Soldier Pheidippides, a messenger from the Battle of Marathon to Athens

Greek Soldier Pheidippides was sent from the battlefield of Marathon to Athens to announce that the Perisans had been defeated in the Battle of Marathon (in which he had just fought) which took place in August or September, 490 BC

It is said that he ran the entire distance without stopping and burst into the assembly, exclaiming νενικήκαμεν (nenikekamen, "we have wοn"), before collapsing and dying

The Marathon was one of the original Modern Olympic Events in 1896, though the distance did not become standardized until 1921
The winner of the 1st Olympic Marathon , on 10 April 1896 (a male-only race), was Spyridon ''Spyros'' Louis, a Greek water-carrier, in 2 hours 58 minutes and 50 seconds

The women's marathon was introduced at the 1984 Summer Olympics Los Angeles, USA and was won by Joan Benoit(USA) with a time of 2 hours 24 minutes and 52 seconds.

The Olympic Men's Record is 2:06:32, set at the 2008 Summer Olympics Beijing,China by Samuel Kamau Wanjiru(Kenya)

The Olympic women's record is 2:23:07, set at the 2012 Summer Olympics London,UK by Tiki Gelana(Ethiopia)

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