10 little-known stories about the Olympics

As the 2012 Olympics play out in London, David Wallechinsky’s latest book The Complete Book of the Olympics, 2012 Edition, provides some great finds about past Games.

9. Making an entrance

Athlete Frank Shorter AP

Three American men have won the Olympic marathon, but none enjoyed the thrill of entering the Olympic stadium at the finish first. In 1900, Thomas Hicks won but only after the first man into the stadium, Fred Lorz, was found to have cheated by hitching a ride in a car for a good part of the race. In 1908, the first man into the stadium was Italy’s Dorando Pietri, but he was disqualified after being helped across the finish line in a dazed state, allowing Johnny Hayes of the US to claim the gold. And in 1972, a hoaxster tried to steal the applause meant for lead runner Frank Shorter’s entry. Instead of an ovation, a perplexed Shorter arrived with the crowd booing and whistling at the imposter.

9 of 10

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

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If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

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