Olympic Competitions and the Metric System of Measurement

The metric system of measurement is an internationally agreed-upon set of units for expressing the amounts of various quantities such as length, mass, time, and temperature. As of now, every nation in the world has adopted the metric system, with only four exceptions: the United States, Brunei, Burma, and Yemen (which use the English units of measurement). Because of its convenience and consistency, scientists have used the metric system of units for more than 200 years. Originally, the metric system was based on only three fundamental units: the meter for length, the kilogram for mass, and the second for time. Today, there are more than 50 officially recognized units for various scientific quantities.

The Metric system was developed in France during the Napoleonic reign of France in the 1790's. The metric system has several advantages over the English system due to which the scientific community has adopted the metric system almost from its inception. In fact, the metric system missed being nationalized in U.S. by one vote in the Continental Congress in the late 1700's or early 1800's. As it is used by most nations of the world, it has commercial and trade advantage. If American manufacturers having both domestic and international customers are to compete, they have to absorb the added cost of dealing with two systems of measurement.

A marathon is an endurance foot race which covers 26 miles, 385 yards (42.2 kilometers). It is named after the Greek Battle of Marathon, which occurred in 490 BCE. In addition to being an Olympic event for both men and women, marathons are run all over the world on a variety of terrain types by athletes at various skill levels. To perform well in a marathon, an athlete undergoes a vigorous period of training to develop stamina and learn his or her physical limitations.

It is said that after the Greeks were victorious over the Persians at the Battle of Marathon, they sent a runner to Athens with the news. The runner, Pheidippides, ran the entire distance to Athens without stopping, announced the victory, and then dropped dead, due to the physical stress on his body caused by the long run. Numerous authors included the story in poems and songs, including Robert Browning in 1876. Browning's poem inspired Michel Breal, who organized the revival of the Olympic Games in 1896 and included a marathon.

History, however, seems to suggest that Pheidippides was actually sent from Athens to Sparta to request assistance at Marathon. This is how Herodotus, who wrote extensively about the Greco-Persian wars, told the story. A runner was certainly sent from Marathon to Athens to relay the news, but it may not have been Pheidippides, and the journey was probably not completed without a single stop.

In a modern marathon, organizers set out a race course which meets the distance requirement, which was set in the 1908 Olympic Games at London. The course is left open for a set period of time, usually around four hours, and runners who fail to complete the course are picked up and brought to the finish line. In marathons with a larger group of less experienced runners, the course may be left open longer, to allow them to finish. Long distance running is very demanding on the body. Runners have an extensive training program which mixes endurance running with resting, so that the body is not damaged. They also monitor their physical health during the race, in an effort to maintain the proper electrolyte balance so that they do not suffer from an imbalance of salts in the body. 

The Olympics began in 776 B.C. with a single event, a 200-yard dash called a stadion. In time, 2- stadia and 24-stadia events were added, and wrestling appeared in 708 B.C. Eventually, interest in the games declined, and they were discontinued in 394 A.D. In 1896, the modern Olympics were initiated and held in Greece. The games attracted about 500 athletes from 13 nations. Since then, the games have been held at various cities around the world every four years. The games have steadily increased in the number of participants, as well as the number of events. In 1896, 311 men competed from 13 nations, and the United States won gold medals in 9 of the 12 events. In 1996, over 10,000 men and women athletes competed from 197 nations. The summer games feature archery, basketball, boxing, canoeing, cycling, fencing, field hockey, gymnastics, handball, horseback riding, judo, rowing, shooting, soccer, swimming, tennis, track and field, volleyball, water polo, weight lifting, wrestling, and yachting.

In the past, U.S. track and field competitions were conducted using the English system of measurement. That is, American runners competed at distances of 100 yards, 440 yards, and one mile. In Olympic competitions, events are conducted using the metric system owing to its international acceptance. Olympic runners compete at comparable distances such as 100, 400, and 1500 meters. The marathon, however, is an exception. It corresponds to the distance run by the Greek messenger who carried news of the Athenian victory on the Plains of Marathon in 490 B.C. That legendary distance was 26 miles, 385 yards.

In 1924, the Olympic winter games were introduced at Chamonix, France. Subsequently, the winter games have been held three times in the United States, twice at Lake Placid and once at Squaw Valley. The winter games feature skating, skiing, bobsledding, luge, tobogganing, and ice hockey. In Nordic cross-country skiing, the races are 10, 20, 30, and 50 kilometers; in ski jumping, the ramps are 70 and 90 meters. Thus, Olympic competitions - winter and summer - employ the metric system of measurement. The 400-meter Olympic race is nearly identical to 440 yards, and the world records for the two races are within tenths of a second.