Shizo Kanakuri, the Japanese Olympian Who "Vanished" Midrace and Crossed the Finish Line 54 Years Later
On a Sunday afternoon in July 1912,more than18,000 spectatorswatching the finish of a marathon in Stockholm ’s Olympic Stadium stand , sit , and waited face - by - jowl in the swelter passion for 34 man who would never go far . Of the68 endurance contest runners who set offat the sound of the starting pistol hours earlier,32 dropped out , one die , and one — as fable would have it — simply disappeared ....