Description
Tewanima, a Hopi runner, competed in the Olympic marathon in London. On 11th July, he trained at Preston Park, Brighton, with the rest of the US Olympic marathon runners. According to historian Matt Sakiestewa Gilbert, “A reporter from The New York Times noted that the “˜long distance champion’ received considerable attention from the British, who could not “˜understand how an apparently fragile creature’ could ‘aspire to marathon honors.’ At 5 feet 4 1/4 inches tall and 115 pounds, Tewanima’s short stature and thin physique did not match the profile of other successful runners with longer legs and torsos.” He came in ninth in the marathon race. (325-6)
Bibliographic sources
Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert, “Marathoner Louis Tewanima and the Continuity of Hopi Running, 1908-1912,” Western Historical Quarterly 43 (Autumn 2012): 325-346. Image by Bain News Service – This image is available from the United States Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs divisionunder the digital ID ggbain.09215. Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4615656