Marathons at the Olympics Olympics marked the introduction of the now standard distance of 26 miles, 385 yards (42.195 km). However, it was not until the 1924 Paris Olympics that this distance became the standard at the Olympics. The Olympic marathon proved immediately popular in the Western world and quickly spawned numerous long-running annual races, including the Boston Marathon in 1897, the Tour de Paris Marathon in 1902, the Yonkers Marathon in 1907, and the London Polytechnic Marathon in 1909. Such marathons played a key role in the expansion of the road running movement internationally over the course of the 20th century. It has
Long-distance swimming Some of the better-known long-distance swims are crossings of the English Channel, Catalina Channel, Fehmarn Belt and Cook Strait. Ultra-long distance swimming is sometimes referred to as marathon swimming. The minimum distance that constitutes a marathon swim has dramatically shortened over time. Different organizations adopt various minimum distances. The swimming marathon events at the Olympic games have a distance of 10 km. Long-distance swims tend to fall into one of two categories: (1) swims in which the start date and start time are chosen by the individual swimmer (often called solo-swims), and (2) swims that involve a group-start. Long-distance swimming