Charilaos Vasilakos

Silver medal, April 10, 1896, Charilaos Vasilakos, Marathon, Athens 1896.

Many Greeks believed that our country could win the victory on the marathon course thanks to the participation of Charilaos Vasilakos. He had run the distance some time ago in 3 hours and 18 minutes and also had the necessary experience on the course. Not knowing the abilities of the foreign athletes, Vasilakos decided to approach the race conservatively and take a wait-and-see attitude. And that’s what he did during the race, in which he slowly worked his way to the front. Halfway through the race, Lermizio (France) and Flack (Australia) were ahead and behind Vasilakos at the head of the Greek athletes. Most likely in the middle of the course Spyros Louis overtook him. His effort to increase the pace was obvious, but Louis stayed on and practically the only one who could not stay on was the Australian Edwin Flack. Law student Charilaos Vasilakos entered the Panathenaic Stadium in second place and the Greek fans could not believe their eyes: two Greek winners on the marathon course. His reception was comparable to that of Spyros Louis and his performance of 3 hours 06.03, twelve minutes better than what he had achieved when he qualified to form the Greek Olympic team. Vasilakos was born in Piraeus in 1875. He was a tall man who had great endurance for long distances due to his larger lungs, as it was later medically determined. He passed away in 1964.

In third place, all Greek sources name Spyros Beloka, a young Greek athlete, but many foreign sports historians as well as the IOC and the IAAF accept Gyula Kellner of Hungary as the third winner. The Hungarian is undisputed, as he finished 4th behind Beloka in a time of 3:06.35. American historian David Walesinski reports that Kellner objected because he accused Beloka of running part of the course in a cart toward the end. The Greek athlete, according to the American historian, confessed his act and was dropped from the competition. German writer Volker Kluge reports the same thing, but in a footnote, and puts Beloka in third place. The IOC, as mentioned, lists Gyula Kellner as the third winner on its website. The final: Louis (Greece) 2: 58.50 Vasilakos (Greece) 3:06.03 Kellner (Hungary) 3:06.35 Vrettos (Greece) Papasymeon (Greece) Deligiannis (Greece) Gerakakis (Greece).