Did Sweden really make a Japanese Olympian finish a marathon 55 years later? The Shizo Kanakuri story verified. We checked — and the verdict is TRUE.
Shizo Kanakuri represented Japan in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics marathon. Overcome by heat, he stopped at a Swedish family's home, drank some juice, and rested—then quietly boarded a ship back to Japan without notifying race officials. Sweden listed him as a missing person for decades. In 1967, a Swedish television station tracked him down and invited him back to finish. He was 76 years old. He jogged the final stretch of the course and crossed the finish line, recording an official completion time of 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes, and 20.3 seconds. Guinness World Records recognized it as the longest marathon finish in history. Kanakuri reportedly said afterward, "It was a long journey. Along the way, I got married, had six children and ten grandchildren."