你知道第一屆現代奧運會中最受歡迎的項目是什么？答案就是起源于希臘的馬拉松比賽。當時的雅典只有十三萬五千人，而觀看馬拉松賽竟達十萬人之多，真可說是“萬人空巷”。當身著淺藍背心的希臘人斯皮里東·魯易斯第一個沖入運動場時，頓時全場雀躍，歡聲雷動。

At the Athens 1896 Olympic Games, Spyridon Louis set off from the city of Marathon and took the lead four kilometres from the finish line and won the race by more than seven minute.

There is no event that the Greek hosts wanted to win more than the marathon race, because of its historical significance. Spyridon Louis set off from the city of Marathon and took the lead four kilometres from the finish line and, to the great joy of the 100,000 spectators, won the race by more than seven minutes.

Born on 12 January 1873 in Maroussi near Athens, Spyridon Louis, a 24-year-old Greek shepherd, became the real hero of the 1896 Games. There was no event that the Greek hosts wanted more to win than the 40,000m marathon race, which was created to honor the legend of Pheidippides, who allegedly carried the news of the Greek victory at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC by running from Marathon to Athens. On 10 April 1896, Louis, wearing shoes that had been donated by his fellow villagers, set off from Marathon with sixteen other runners. He took the lead four kilometres from the Panathenaic Stadium and, to the great joy of the 100,000 spectators in and around the stadium, won the race by more than seven minutes. Forty years later, Louis recalled the moments after his victory: "That hour was something unimaginable and it still appears to me in my memory like a dream…. Twigs and flowers were raining down on me. Everybody was calling out my name and throwing their hats in the air…."

（南開大學通訊員 王樂迪 孫偉供稿）