Charilaos Vasilakos
Charilaos Vasilakos in the middle,
marathon runners, 1896 |
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Medal record
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Charilaos Vasilakos (Greek: Χαρίλαος Βασιλάκος, 1875 – 1 December 1964) was a Greek athlete and the first man to win a marathon race. He also won a silver medal at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.
Vasilakos was born in Piraeus, Greece.
On March 22, 1896 Greece held the first modern Panhellenic Games. The main purpose of the games was to help the country formulate the team that would compete in the first Modern Olympic Games later the same year. All participants were members of Greek sports clubs. Vasilakos was raised in a mountainous village in the Mani peninsula called Petrina and already had a reputation as a strong long-distance runner. He won the marathon race with a time of 3 hours and 18 minutes.
Vasilakos was one of seventeen athletes to start the Olympic race on April 10, 1896. He finished in second place, behind Spiridon Louis, with a time of 3:06.03 as one of only nine finishers. Both races were on 40 kilometre courses rather than the now-standard 42.195 kilometres.
Vasilakos studied law and went on to become a customs director in the ministry of finance. He had a reputation for honesty and integrity. He died in Athens in 1964.
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