The Olympics' Strangest Games: Extraordinary But True Tales from the History of the Olympic Games (Strangest Series)

by Geoff Tibballs (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2004

  $3.23

  To mark the 2004 Olympics in Athens, The Olympics' Strangest Moments recounts the bizarre, controversial, inept, heroic and plain unlucky from the first modern games in 1896 to the glorles of Sydney 2000. The world's greatest sporting occasion has been packed with unusual occurrences as well as creating unlikely heroes such as Dorando Pietri, who missed out on marathon gold after being helped over the finish line by over-anxious officials, and 'Eric the Eel' from Equatorial Guinea who was acknowledged as the slowest swimmer in the history of the games. This fascinating collection includes such unusual and entertalning stories as the Italian Carlo Airoldi who spent nearly two months travelling from Milan to Athens on foot and by boat only for his Olympic entry to be refused and Fred Lorz who crossed the line first at the end of the 1904 marathon but was disqualified after it was discovered that he had hitched a lift in a car.