2012 Olympic Marathon Course in London's original 2005 bid for the Games and broke with the normal Olympic tradition that the race finishes inside the main Olympic Stadium. The 2012 Summer Olympics was the third to be held in London. The stated distance of the marathon at the London 1908 Summer Olympics – 26 miles and 385 yards, later converted to metric units as 42.195 kilometres – formed the basis of the standard distance adopted by International Association of Athletics Federations in 1921. The route, as confirmed in October 2010, starts on The Mall about 350 metres from the Victoria Memorial and has four
Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's marathon Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's marathon The men's marathon race of the 1908 Summer Olympics took place in London on 24 July 1908. Johnny Hayes won after Dorando Pietri was disqualified for having received assistance before the finish line. For the first time in an Olympic marathon, the distance was , which would become the standard distance in 1921. 75 competitors entered the race, of whom 55 from 16 nations started, with 27 from 11 nations finishing. At a meeting of the International Olympic Committee in The Hague in May 1907 it was agreed with the British