In the 1960's the Kingston Trio sang a song about a subway traveller in Boston named Charlie who stayed on the subway for a long, long time. I think the title was "The Man Who Never Returned".
The following story strikes a similar chord, but not exactly. Shizo Kanakuri did return after disappearing on the Marathon route in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. He dropped out at 16 miles in the 90 degree heat and never got back to the finish line. A kind Swedish family, the Petra's took him in, fed him and rehydrated him and gave him clothing. He came back to town quietly and travelled home without reporting to anyone. His whereabouts were never determined by the Swedish authorities, and he was declared missing, end of story. But not really. He did return to Japan and later ran in two more Olympic marathons, and even completed the original Stockholm marathon in 1967, officially being credited with a time of 54 years 8 months 6 days 5 hours and 20.3 seconds, proving to me that the Swedes do have a sense of humor and Shizo Kankuri had a sense of honor. The Swedes even announced that the 1912 Olympics were officially concluded. During the course of that marathon, Kanakuri was able to father 6 children and had 10 grandchildren. Today he is credited with being the father of marathon running in Japan.
Recently (August 7, 2021) Rick Maese told this story in an article that appeared in the Washington Post.
Here is that story. Thanks to Thomas Coyne for forwarding the article to us.
No comments:
Post a Comment