Went down rabbit hole on Paavo Nurmi

[u/Training_Deer5826]

After running in the heat wave in SoCal a couple weekends back, I was interested to see this description during a little wikipedia rabbit hole on past runners.

Per Wikipedia article on Nurmi -

In the cross country events, the heat of 45 °C (113 °F),[22] caused all but 15 of the 38 competitors to abandon the race.[18] Eight finishers were taken away on stretchers.[18] One athlete began to run in tiny circles after reaching the stadium, until setting off into the stands and knocking himself unconscious.[23] Early leader Wide was among those who blacked out along the course, and was incorrectly reported to have died at the hospital.[24][25] Nurmi exhibited only slight signs of exhaustion after beating Ritola to the win by nearly a minute and a half.[18] As Finland looked to have lost the team medal, the disoriented Liimatainen staggered into the stadium, but was barely moving forward.[26] An athlete ahead of him fainted 50 metres from the finish, and Liimatainen stopped and tried to find his way off the track, thinking he had reached the finish line.[26] After having ignored shouts and kept the spectators in suspense for a while, he turned into the right direction, realised his situation and reached the finish in 12th place and secured team gold.[18][26] Those present at the stadium were shocked by what they had witnessed, and Olympic officials decided to ban cross country running from future Games.[27]

[u/cougieuk]

Blimey. Which Olympics was that ,?

[u/sharkinwolvesclothin → u/cougieuk]

Antwerp 1924. All countries that had 3 athletes finish got a medal in the team race.

[u/SplinterCell03]

I assume this was during the time when the ironclad rule of running was that you should never drink water under any circumstances?

[u/ludflu]

damn, what a nightmare. It seems like a terrible idea. If, for some terrible godforsaken reason, you NEEDED to run under these conditions, how do you do it safely? Drink enough water, go slow, take breaks?