"I am not the marathon winner. Instead, as the English say, I am the one who won and lost victory"
So wrote Dorando Pietri in the Corriere della Sera of 30 July 1908.
"Such is the power of a good "story" that for every thousand people who know Dorando's name, not even one is probably able to say who officially won the London Marathon"
So said Harold Abrahams, 100 metres Olympic champion in 1924, immortalised in the film Chariots of Fire.
On 24 July 1908, in fact, Dorando Pietri won the Olympic Marathon in London, but was disqualified due to the help he received across the finishing line.
Throughout the world, the historians of sport continue to call that "non victory" the "most famous episode in the history of the modern games"( Roberto Quercetani)