Marathon is the longest race in Olympic Games track and field competition. Athletes run a distance of 26 miles 385 yards (42.2 kilometers). A marathon may begin and end in a stadium, but most of the race is run on city streets and roads. The first modern marathon was run at the 1896 Olympic Games. Only men ran in Olympic marathons until 1984, when women began to compete.
In addition to the Olympic Games, annual marathons are held in such cities as Boston, Chicago, London, New York City, Paris, Rome, and San Francisco. Amateur runners and professional athletes run together in city marathons. The same rules apply to all entrants. Men and women run together, though separate winners are declared for male and female competitors. Some major marathons attract thousands of runners.
The marathon was named for Marathon, a coastal plain in Greece and the site of a famous battle in 490 B.C. According to tradition, Pheidippides, an Athenian soldier, ran almost 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Marathon to Athens, carrying news of the Athenian victory over the Persians.
