Spyridon Louis
Spyridon ("Spyros") Louis (Greek: Σπυρίδων "Σπύρος" Λούης, sometimes transliterated Loues; January 12, 1873 – March 26, 1940) was a Greek water-carrier who won the first modern-day Olympic marathon at the 1896 Summer Olympics, thereby becoming a national hero.
Louis was born in the town of Marousi, which is now a suburb to the north of Athens, into a poor farmer's family. Louis's father sold mineral water in Athens, at the time lacking a central water supply, and his son helped him by transporting it.
Read more about Spyridon Louis: Preparation, The Marathon Race, After The Olympics, Breal's Silver Cup, Bibliography
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“It is the mark of a good action that it appears inevitable in retrospect.”
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894)