While most athletes competing at the Olympic Games are remembered for their triumphs, victory is not always the reason they endure. At the 1908 London Olympics marathon, one Italian runner became a legend not for winning, but for losing in the most unforgettable way imaginable.
Dorando Pietri finishing the marathon. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Dorando Pietri was only 5 feet 3 inches tall. Despite his short legs, he was already a sensation in Italy.
Legend has it that when Pietri was nineteen, he entered a race in Carpi on a whim. In spite of being poorly attired (he was still in his work clothes) he stunned the field by winning, defeating Italy’s most famous runner of the time, Pericle Pagliani. Later that same year, he made his official debut in a 3 km race in Bologna, finishing second. The following year, he achieved his first international success, winning the 30 km race in Paris.
He went on to compete in the marathon at the 1906 Intercalated Games, but failed to finish due to an intestinal illness. In 1907, however, he claimed the Italian national championship, confirming his status as one of the country’s finest distance runners.
Dorando Pietri entered the fourth edition of the modern Olympic Games in London with strong medal ambitions. He was the undisputed leader of Italian long-distance running, from the 5,000 metres to the marathon.
The race began on a hot July afternoon in 1908 at Windsor Castle, an unusual starting point chosen so that the royal family’s children could watch the runners set off. From there, the competitors wound their way through the English countryside toward the finish line inside White City Stadium. The distance—roughly 26 miles, or 42.2 km—would later become the modern marathon standard, but on that day it proved punishingly long, especially under the summer heat.
Pietri began at a relatively slow pace, but in the second half of the course he surged forward, moving into second position by the 32 km mark, four minutes behind South African runner Charles Hefferon. When Hefferon began to falter, Pietri pressed on, overtaking him at the 39 km mark.
The effort, however, took its toll. With only two kilometres remaining, Pietri began to suffer from extreme fatigue and dehydration. As he entered the stadium, he took a wrong turn, briefly running in the wrong direction before officials redirected him. Then, after running for only a couple of yards, he collapsed.
Officials rushed to his side and helped him to his feet. Pietri staggered on—“the little red legs going incoherently, but drumming hard, driven by a supreme will within,” as Arthur Conan Doyle later wrote. He fell again and again as the crowd groaned. Each time, officials and attendants lifted him up, guiding him forward, his legs barely able to carry him.
Finally, after nearly 10 minutes of repeated falls and assisted recoveries, Pietri crossed the finish line to thunderous applause. He had, by all appearances, won the marathon.
The second-place runner, American athlete Johnny Hayes, entered the stadium shortly afterward. Pietri’s total time was 2 hours 54 minutes 46 seconds; Hayes finished just 32 seconds later. His team immediately lodged a protest. The rules were clear: a runner could not receive physical assistance during the race, and Pietri had been helped multiple times in the final stretch.
After reviewing the situation, the judges made their decision. Despite being the first to cross the finish line, Dorando Pietri was disqualified, and the victory was awarded to Hayes.
It was later reported that Pietri had been given small doses of strychnine during the race, a substance then commonly used by endurance athletes as a stimulant. Anti-doping rules did not yet exist, and such practices were widespread in long-distance running. Pietri himself, however, attributed his collapse not to stimulants but to having eaten too heavily before the race.
The ruling was technically correct, but it did little to diminish the public’s admiration for Pietri. If anything, the controversy amplified his fame. His struggle had captivated the crowd, transforming him from an obscure runner into an international hero. Even Queen Alexandra was moved by his effort, reportedly presenting him with a gilded silver cup in recognition of his extraordinary determination.
Pietri holding the gilded silver cup from Queen Alexandra. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Arthur Conan Doyle, who had been commissioned by the Daily Mail to write a special report about the race, was so impressed by the effort of the Italian at the stadium that he proposed the Daily Mail to start a subscription to raise money and help Pietri to open a bakery in his native town. The fund reached the considerable sum of 300 pounds, to which the same Conan Doyle contributed the initial 5 pounds.
In the years that followed, Pietri capitalized on his newfound celebrity, competing in exhibition races and becoming a celebrated figure in the world of athletics. In 1908, New York organized a race between Hayes and Pietri, which Pietri won by half a lap. The race inspired American songwriter Irving Berlin to compose his first hit, “Dorando.” Pietri would went on to win 17 of the 22 races on his tour of America
He returned to Italy in May 1909 and continued racing professionally in his native country and abroad for two more years. He ran his final marathon in Buenos Aires, in 1910, where he achieved his personal best of 2h 38min 48s.
Pietri's last race in Italy was a 15 km race held in Parma on 3 September 1911, which he won. He also won his very last race, this time in Gothenburg (Sweden), in October of the same year. He was 26 at the time. In three years as a professional runner he earned 200,000 lire in prize money alone, an enormous sum for the time.
Pietri invested his earnings in a hotel he opened in collaboration with his brother. He was not as successful an entrepreneur as he was athlete, and the hotel went bankrupt. He moved to Sanremo, where he directed a car workshop. Pietri lived in Sanremo until his death at the age of 56.
References:
# Dorando Pietri. Wikipedia
# Dorando Pietri: Falling at the Finish. Britannica Encyclopaedia
# Dorando Pietri. Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia
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