For a long time, Josy Barthel was considered Luxembourg’s first Olympic Champion, but 52 years before his title, Michel Théato won the Olympic marathon. As he represented a French club, Club Amical et Sportif de Saint-Mandé, it had always been assumed that Théato was French. Athletics historian Alain Bouillé, however, discovered that he was born in Luxembourg. Although Théato moved to Paris and lived there until his death in 1923, there is no record that he ever filed for French citizenship. Théato is often listed as a baker’s delivery boy who knew his way through the streets of Paris and took a short cut to the Olympic gold. No proof of this exists, and Théato was in fact a carpenter, but later in life, he worked as a longshoreman.
Personal Best: Mar – 2-42:44 (1901).
France
Luxembourg