Olympic Games/ Summer, 1904/ St Louis/ World's Fair/ Maratho - Lot 19

Olympic Games/ Summer, 1904/ St Louis/ World's Fair/ Marathon/ Meursault/ Official medal Round medal in gilded bronze awarded to participants in World's Fair events. Did some athletes receive it? Not impossible. Obverse: "Universel Exposition at Saint-Louis, United States of America, XCMIV". Marianne protects her young American disciple; reverse: in the talons of the American eagle, wings spread: "Bronze Medal, Louisiana Purchase, Exposition, with coquille St Jacques and the two dolphins. Diameter: 6.3 cm For the record, Albert Corey was the only French athlete to take part in these Games (bib 7), under cover of his club, the Chicago Athletic Club. He won two silver medals (in the marathon, and in the 4-mile eq). With this medal and the next, we can give a nod to this stalwart, who shone in the most eventful marathon in history (obstacles, doping, cheating, etc.)... Born in Meursault in 1878, this winegrower's son, who had fled the army and become a strikebreaker in the USA, died in Paris in 1926. He was a true marathon runner, winning the Chicago Marathon before returning home to pursue a successful military career. And it's a real medal...like the next one. One of the most curious stories in Olympic mythology.