Spyridon Louis, an unheralded competitor in an unknown event, ran 25 miles from Marathon to Athens, following the path not just of the ancient messenger Pheidippides but also some more contemporary couriers on horseback and bicycle who announced his arrival at the Panathenian Stadium with the cry: “A Greek! A Greek!”
Sixty thousand of his countrymen greeted Louis as he entered the arena, their cheers echoing off the marble edifice. Crown Prince Constantine jumped onto the track to run alongside him for the final lap.
Embarrassed thus far by a shutout on the track in the inaugural modern Olympics, the hosts had their champion, a water carrier from a nearby town — and in a new event that was as Greek as the Games themselves: the marathon.