A fallen hero of the Games

The media uproar turned Pietri into an international star. Afterward, he, Hayes, and Longboat turned pro and crisscrossed the U.S. in a series of big-money races. Their well-publicized duels, including an indoor, mano a mano match in New York's Madison Square Garden, created the first marathon craze in this country. Irving Berlin marked the occasion by writing his first hit song, titled "Dorando."

This year, one century later, Hayes finally escaped Pietri's considerable shadow, when he was inducted into the National Distance Running Hall of Fame in Utica, N.Y.

But their legacy extends beyond the track; their memorable race, during the most memorable of the early Olympic Games, helped save the nascent Olympic movement from oblivion.

"Had the debacles of the 1900 and 1904 Games been repeated, the Olympic movement probably would not have survived or, at best, deteriorated into little more than a minor sporting organization with little influence," according to Mallon and collaborator Ian Buchanan.

It's clear, too, that from that point, sports would no longer be perceived as "leisure activity," practiced only by the wealthy and the titled. Now, sports would be many things: athletic spectacle featuring well-trained competitors and the aura of celebrity; commercial enterprise, complete with stadium deals and corporate sponsorships; unscripted entertainment for an increasingly urbanized society with discretionary income; and endless fodder for a voracious media.

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