Dorando Pietri

Dorando Pietri ( born October 16, 1885 in Correggio, † February 7, 1942 in Sanremo ) was an Italian marathon runner.

In London in 1908, he was back at the start. For a long time he lay behind the South African Charles Hefferon in second place, but was weaker than that in the last kilometers, Dorando Pietri could take the lead. With a large margin Pietri came in the packed 75,000 spectators White City Stadium, and only half the stadium round separated him from the safety of Olympic victory. But he was exhausted and dizzy and had run almost in the wrong direction. When the judge showed him the way to the goal, he broke down completely exhausted. He could turn himself around, but broke on the last 350 meters of the race together again and again, a total of five times. Finally, give him some present doctors and judges helped over the finish line, as already the second-placed American John Hayes had reached the stadium ten minutes after Pietri.

The American team filed a complaint because of this use of foreign assistance. The appeal was accepted, Dorando Pietri victory stripped and John Hayes declared an Olympic champion. Dorando Pietri received from the Queen a gold cup as a special award for his fighting spirit, and his story went around the world through the press. Through it won both the marathon and the Olympic Games in general popularity.

The Sherlock Holmes author Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a detailed and emotional account of this event (Daily Mail 25 July 1908), who did much to, to make known the history of Dorando Pietri for the Daily Mail newspaper. Simultaneously with his article published Conan Doyle also a reader's letter in which he called for donations for Dorando Pietri. This large commitment of Conan Doyle is probably the reason for the widespread but false, legend, Conan Doyle himself had Pietri helped over the finish line.