At the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis, marathon winner Thomas Hicks was given strychnine and brandy during the race. His handlers hoped the mixture would keep him moving as he struggled toward the finish. It did not make for a triumphant-looking arrival: Hicks was barely able to continue and needed medical attention afterward.
A desperate push to the finish
The marathon unfolded on hot, dusty roads with little opportunity for runners to drink water. As Hicks weakened, his support crew first gave him strychnine mixed with egg whites. Later, they administered another dose with brandy. Strychnine was used as a stimulant at the time, but it is a dangerous poison—not an early version of a sports drink.
Hicks kept going, though he became increasingly distressed and disoriented. He finished in 3 hours, 28 minutes and 53 seconds, then required help from four doctors before he was well enough to leave. The Olympic Museum’s account of Hicks’s race describes just how close to exhaustion he was.
The winner was not the first to arrive
Hicks’s ordeal was only part of the story. Fred Lorz reached the stadium ahead of him, but officials disqualified Lorz after discovering he had ridden in a car for part of the course. You can read more about Lorz’s car ride in the 1904 Olympic marathon.
Why, then, was Hicks allowed to keep his win? The strychnine was not prohibited under the rules of the day. The Smithsonian’s account of the marathon makes the contrast clear: a car ride cost Lorz the victory, while Hicks’s hazardous assistance did not. More than a century later, that distinction is one of the race’s most startling details.