Olympic historian Karl Lennartz contends that two women ran the marathon in 1896, and that the name "Melpomene" was confirmed by both Kémény and Alfréd Hajós, two-time Olympic swim champion of 1896. Lennartz presents the following account: a young woman named Melpomene wanted to run the race and completed the distance in 4½ hours at the end of February or the beginning of March. The organizing committee, however, did not allow her to run, and the newspaper "Akropolis" criticized the committee for its decision. The Olympic Marathon took place on 10 April 1896, and another female runner, Stamata Revithi, took 5½ hours to run the course on 11 April 1896. The newspapers "Asti", "New Aristophanes" and "Atlantida" reported this on 12 April 1896.