A colleague of mine spent most of the weekend being asked by very serious rowers which medicines they could take and which they could not. Drugs and sport are never far apart. There is even a website dedicated to following the issue. Even Lance Armstrong is smeared with allegations, and his continuing battle with Le Monde shows how the issue can be used for political reasons.
Still, lest you think winning at any costs is a symptom of the modern age, let me take you back to the 1904 St. Louis, Missouri Summer Olympics. Specifically the marathon. After President Roosevelt’s daughter placed a laurel wreath over the head of Fred Lorz from New York City, who had completed the marathon in three hours, it was discovered he had hitched a ride in a car at the 9 mile marker for eleven miles (waving at the crowd as he went along), then suitably revived completed the race.
So who did win? It was a British-born man from Cambridge, Massachusetts by the name of Thomas Hicks. He finished in 3:28:53, but what help did he get?
It seems that Hicks had begged to lie down about ten miles from the finish line. Instead, his trainers gave him an oral dose of strychnine sulfate mixed into raw egg white to keep him going. This was not enough – they had to give him several more doses, as well as brandy, along the way. By the end of the race, Hicks had to actually be supported by two of his trainers so that he could cross the finish line (essentially, he was carried over the line with his feet moving back-and-forth). Hicks was very close to death’s door. It took four doctor’s to get him in good enough shape just to leave the grounds, eventually falling asleep on a trolley.
For the complete story of these Olympics, including the Cuban Postman and the “Boer War exhibition” which also ran, visit Useless Information.