White City, London paving outside the building. The Marathon from these London Olympics played an important part in the development of the modern marathon race. In the early years of competitive international sport, the long distance marathon race did not have a standard set distance. The distance run at the first seven Olympics from 1896 to 1920 varied between 40km and 42.75 km. The starting point of the race at the 1908 Olympics was at Windsor Castle creating a distance of 26 miles 385 yards (42.195 km) to the finishing line at White City stadium. In 1921 this was adopted as the standard
Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's marathon 10 kilometre Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's marathon 10 kilometre The women's marathon swimming over a distance of 10 kilometres at the 2012 Olympic Games in London took place on 9 August in the Serpentine at Hyde Park in London, United Kingdom. Hungary's Éva Risztov ended her eight-year absence from Olympic action to capture the women's 10 km marathon title in open water swimming. Leading most of the stretch in a grueling race, she held off a late resistant surge from American teen Haley Anderson on the last 50 metres to slam the timing touch pads and claim her