Why the 1904 Olympics Were the Worst EVER

Join us as we delve into the absolute chaos that was the 1904 Olympics in St Louis, USA - widely regarded as the worst Olympic Games ever! Strap in for a wild ride through all the quirks, oddities, and downright insanity of these games. Don't forget to subscribe for more fascinating Olympic history!

0:00 - Intro
0:18 - St. Louis Wasn't Originally Selected as the Host City
1:19 - The Games Lasted for Almost Five Months
2:15 - No One Showed Up
3:34 - US Medals Won by Non-US Athletes
4:39 - Midway
4:54 - The Marathon
6:45 - They Had Some Wild Events
7:54 - Sorry Ladies, No Games For You
8:58 - The Anthropology Days
10:21 - Outro

[mxRian]

Side note about Olympic Tug-of-War: the main reason it was discontinued was because participants were losing fingers.
Good video 👍🏾

[rajivmurkejee]

1908 was the first "normal" Games.
The first three Games anyone could just turn up and compete-even if they were all from the hosting country

[SimonDoer]

my favorite part about the early days of the modern Olympics is that there used to be disciplines for painting and music. I tried finding some pieces from the time, but the only thing I could find was a painting of a bunch of people skiing. was kind of underwhelming

[route]

There was also a war reenactment where they used actual veterans from the war, and 2 of them joined the marathon, to become the first black Africans to compete the Olympics. One of them was the one who got chased by dogs, and the other picked up apples that fell out of a tree, and took a nap to settle his stomach. He took bronze.

[bereleneyergaw]

😂😂😂😂Honestly, this was the most hilarious thing I've seen and heard in my 78 years.😂😂Thanks a million.

[adellajones]

At the 4:31 mark - that is Eric Liddell (451). He was born in 1902 so I don't believe he was competing in the 1904 Olympics. He did compete for Great Britain in the 1924 Paris Olympics. Eric Liddell died a hero but not from his sports career.

[McLarenMercedes]

While working at an airport in my days as a student I actually met a lady from St. Louis and after reading her passport I said:"Ah, St. Louis that's the place of the 1904 Olympics." to which she smiled and replied:"I'm impressed." Told her that these games were controversial even for the standards of the day and that while St.Louis itself was a large city rapidly expanding back then it made "sense" having it there. Told her about the infamous cheating while riding a car in the marathon event to which she replied:"There were cars in 1904??" I replied:"Well, this was 4 years before Ford presented their Model T and cars were rare but existed." She had never heard about this despite being from the city herself.

Some time later while researching about popular cars before the famous Model T I learned about the Oldsmobile Curved Dash from 1901. About 19, 000 were made until 1907, which certainly qualifies as mass-production considering how complex and time-consuming early automobiles were to build - particularly so before the running-assembly line.
The Curved Dash had a 5hp engine and could reach a top speed of 20mph (32km/h). Not so fast perhaps but when one realizes that even the modern day marathon world record of 2 hours translates to an average speed of 21km/h (13mph) I'd say that hitching a ride for 11 miles on an Oldsmobile Curved Dash (if this was the car) back in 1904 certainly both relieved the runner and made him arrive at a somewhat plausible time.

There were other cars back in 1904 as well. Fact is that in January, 1904, Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly magazine catalogued the entire range of automobiles available to the mass market in the United States. This list included 61(!) different manufacturers. All gone today except for Cadillac, Ford and Renault. Oldsmobile actually lasted until 2004 which is "fairly recently".

I also wonder how that marathon runner got caught. Given that there were no tv cameras (and hardly cameras at all) and the event itself was amateurishly organized how was he discovered? Any rival who recognized his face while he rode the car? His competition number being absent at checkpoints (if such existed) ? Somebody spilled the beans at a local bar telling the patrons he took a marathon runner for a ride? Perhaps he was stupid enough to ride the car still wearing his number for everybody to see so word got around about "that runner who rode the car". Almost all cars back then were open with no roofs.

Anyways, I'd say the 1904 Olympics would make a great movie. If it were portrayed as "a satire remarkably close to *actual* history".

[petermacdonough]

1904: "We went down as the worst Olympics in history!!"
2024: Hold me wine and cheese!!
🍷🧀

[kubilaj]

7:28
Tug o' War survived at the OG surprisingly long - to 1920, so it wasn't too strange.
Also was weight throw.

[Ind-eb]

France planning to try to clean up the Seine for 2024 of feces reminds me of how four water polo players died from typhus within a year from cattle using the artificial lake were the swimming events happened.

[alberto]

I'm surprised you didn't mention the soccer competition which was contested by a club team from Canada and two club teams from St. Louis. That's it, 3 clubs. The Canadian club, Galt FC, won the gold medal defeating the two St. Louis clubs 7-0 and 4-0, respectively. It was the last event of these Olympics, contested in late November. Great video, apart from that.

[doctorhorton]

Solid video! Makes me reminisce of the classic Jon Bois video on the subject

[juggler]

I don't know how the rest of the World's Fair was judged by history, but they did leave us two legacies, thanks to the intense heat: iced tea and the ice cream cone were both introduced there, partly in desperation.

As for the Olympics, 1904 was so bad that the IOC chose to arrange a replacement event, the "intercalated" games in 1906, in Athens.

[mistermattmoose]

years ago i had read about the st. louis olympics and everything that was bad about them, including the anthropology events. what makes that even worse was the fact that those poor participants weren't even athletic, they were usually out of shape tribal elders who were in their 50's and 60's (but the public wasn't told) and, with the poor results, would further push the racial inferiority/ superiority bs. great video, btw. thanks!

[backalleycqc]

As an Anthropologist, I approve a return to "Anthropology Days" in the next Olympics, both summer and winter events.

[acelm]

Another fact about this one: St. Louis has a LOWER population today than it had in 1904.

[night]

the idea of the olympics and world’s fair being together sounds awesome

[seanphillips]

The hills on that marathon route are INSANE. It was just painful even today.

[kkouz]

Definitely want the Tug Of War to return!

[allmotivepowers]

You know you've done something wrong when the Founder refuses to attend.