The Motorist & The Marathon

Sadly, there has always been a continuous issue with cheating during the Olympics. But while cheaters today typically look for new medicines that would pass the tests, athletes in the past were at least a little more inventive in their cheating.

Consider American long-distance runner Fred Lorz, who participated in the St. Louis Olympic marathon in 1904. Lorz started cramping around halfway through the race, so his manager picked him up in his car and drove him the remaining 11 kilometers. You have to at least commend Lorz for having such sheer audacity. As he continued to drive towards the finish line and wave at the crowd, he made no effort to conceal his deceit.

Naturally, Lorz won the race, and Alice Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt's daughter, was about to present him with the gold medal when she learned of his deceit. While acknowledging the act, Lorz insisted that it was all a jest and that he had no desire to receive the accolade. We will never know if this is true, but Lorz did have a happy ending when he ran the Boston Marathon the following year. This time, he won equally and fairly.