Out & About
Maltese actor in BBC docu-drama
By MaltaMedia News
Aug 5, 2008 - 10:44:58 AM

Maltese actor Ben Darmanin is playing the Italian marathon runner Dorando Pietri in a documentary marking the centenary of the 1908 Olympics which airs for the first time on BBC 4 on Tuesday 12 August 2008.

The First True Olympics, as the documentary is titled, charts the story of the fourth Olympic Games of the modern era. 2008 athletes (37 of which women) from 22 nations took part in 110 events but the one that caught the world’s imagination was the dramatic ending of the marathon.

After 42 kilometres (26 miles) of running, the first man to enter the stadium was Dorando Pietri of Italy but it was immediately apparent that something was wrong. Dazed, he headed in the wrong direction and then collapsed five times. The officials helped him to reach the finish line in first position in 2h 54min 46s, 10 minutes ahead of the second-placed American Johnny Hayes.

Pietri was disqualified for receiving outside aid and the gold went to Hayes, but the Italian’s plucky effort made him famous.

There are several surviving newspaper reports of Dorando's Marathon but the most noteworthy copy was written by a reporter on the Daily Mail who was in the stands that day. He was Arthur Conan Doyle, whose spirited defence of the diminutive marathon runner prompted Queen Alexandra of England to present the runner with a silver cup.

Hayes may have been the champion, but Pietri was the hero. Pietri himself wrote in the 30 July 1908 edition of the Corriere della Sera: "Io non sono il vincitore della maratona. Invece, come dicono gli inglesi, io sono colui che ha vinto ed ha perso la vittoria."

Photographs of the race's conclusion – among the first sports-action images ever produced – appeared in newspapers around the world and the media uproar turned Pietri into an international star.

His exploit sparked a marathon craze that spread around the world and greatly increased interest in the Olympics.

The Liberty Bell drama was shot over six weeks in London, Oxford, Chicago, New York and Carpi, Italy .



© Copyright 2008 by MaltaMedia.com