... The first marathon race was an even metric 40 km ... the length first run during theGuess where I found it! On our own USMA web site! (Way to go, Don Hillger!) It was the first citation listed by Google. (The complete citation was:
1908 Olympics in London ... The current long jump record is 8.95 m by Mike Powell ...
http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hillger/numbers.htm
I was specifically looking for long jump records to use as my example but I found the other bit of information interesting, too. In spite of the present references to the Marathon in Ye Olde English units of miles and yards, the original modern marathon (*see below) was an even 40 km long.
My intention is to use the long jump record as an example of how that record (and other olympic long jump figures) should and should not be reported. The record of 8.95 m is equal to 29 feet 4 and 23/64 inches. Commentators would probably round that to 29 feet 4 and 3/8 inches or more likely to 29 ft. 4 in. (the nearest whole inch) or 29 ft. 4.5 in. (the nearest half inch) or 29 ft 4.4 in. (the nearest tenth). But nothing is simpler than 8.95 m (or 895 cm).
Regards, Bill Hooper Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA
*footnote - the web site also gave the following details:
The first marathon race was an even metric 40 km, run during the first Modern Olympics, Athens 1896. The distance fluctuated in subsequent years, until it was standardized in 1924 at 42.195 km, the length first run during the 1908 Olympics in London. This is not an even distance in either kilometers or miles.
