In the qualifying rounds of the Marathon for the Stockholm Olympics of 1912 Shizo Kanakuri set a new World Record of 2'32:45. This improved upon the existing record by 27 minutes and made him the favourite for the Gold medal at the Games themselves.
During the race Kanakuri found himself overcome with heat exhaustion and passed out.
He managed to stumble into a garden party being hosted by a farming family near the course and was given orange juice and a chance to recover.
Ashamed at his failure to complete the race Kanakuri stayed at the party for an hour and then returned directly to his hotel and departed for Japan the next day without notifying anybody of his situation.
Swedish authorities considered him missing for 40 years although he competed in the Olympic Marathon in 1920 and finished 16th and competed in the 1924 Olympics where he again failed to complete the race.
In 1966 Kanakuri was tracked down by a Swedish Television and offered the chance to complete the Marathon.
He accepted and ended up with a time of 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 8 hours, 32 minutes and 20.3 seconds.
This is on record as the slowest time ever for the completion of an Olympic Marathon...
Best one so far.
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