Showdown at Shepherd's Bush : : the 1908 Olympic Marathon and the Three Runners who Launched a Sporting Craze
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"The eyes of the world watched as three runners--dirt poor Johnny Hayes, who used to run barefoot through the streets of New York City; candymaker Dorando Pietri; and the famed Tom Longboat--converged for an epic battle at the 1908 London Olympics. The incredible finish was contested the world over when Pietri, who initially ran the wrong way upon entering the stadium at Shepherd's Bush, finished first but was disqualified for receiving aid from officials after collapsing just shy of the finish line, thus giving the title to runner-up Hayes. In the midst of anti-American sentiment, Queen Alexandria awarded a special cup to Pietri, who became an international celebrity and inspired one of Irving Berlin's first songs. David Davis recalls a time when runners braved injurious roads with slips of leather for shoes and when marathon mania became a worldwide obsession. Standing next to Cait Murphy's Crazy '08 as an invaluable look at a bygone sporting era, this dramatic narrative is aimed at the recordsetting number of marathon participants in the United States (more than 500,000 in 2010!) and nicely for the return of the Olympics to London in 2012"-- Provided by publisher.
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COMMUNITY REVIEWS
Triply epic. submitted by tbbrown76 on July 13, 2014, 2:29pm Great story.
PUBLISHED
New York : Thomas Dunne Books, 2012.
Year Published: 2012
Description: 308 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.
Language: English
Format: Book
ISBN/STANDARD NUMBER
9780312641009
0312641001
SUBJECTS
Pietri, Dorando, -- 1885-1942.
Longboat, Tom, -- 1887-1949.
Hayes, Johnny, -- 1886-1965.
Olympic Games -- 1908 : -- London, England)
Marathon running -- History.
Olympics -- History.
Long-distance runners.