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
Spirit of the Marathon Salazar, Grete Waitz, Paula Radcliffe, Joan Benoit-Samuelson, and Kathrine Switzer provide commentary about the sport. The focus is then on the six featured runners and their training for the 2005 Chicago Marathon. American Deena Kastor and Kenyan Daniel Njenga are both elite runners, and are determined to win the race. Kastor was the bronze medalist at the 2004 Olympic Marathon, but has yet to win a marathon. Njenga had finished second multiple times in previous Chicago Marathons. Kastor is shown training and recovering from an injury in Mammoth Lakes, California, while Njenga's life as a sponsored runner in Tokyo is