Ollie-Lympian talks to BBC Sport Academy about a man who inspired the marathon race.

Wars used to happen all the time in ancient Greece and the year 490 BC was no exception.

An army from Athens was fighting with the Persians in a town called Marathon and little did they know that an athletic legend was about to be created.

After coming under a surprise attack, the Persians made a quick escape.

And an Athenian runner called Pheidippides was asked to carry the news of their victory to their elders back home in Athens.

Pheidippides was tired after months of fighting and battled his way towards the city over a gruelling 25 miles.

Spiridon Louis left his sheep for marathon glory

Completely exhausted and with sore lips and bleeding feet, he entered the city streets and shouted "Rejoice! We conquer!"

He then dropped dead.

The long distance race called the marathon was born and was later included in the modern Olympic Games first held in 1896 in Athens.

Greek athletes had done poorly at their home Games but with 13 of the 17 marathon runners being Greek the home crowd were optimistic.

With six miles left, Australian Edwin Flack easily led and a cyclist pedalled to the stadium to announce he would win.

However, a local shepherd called Spiridon Louis had other ideas and over took after Flack collapsed and was carried off.

Another messenger rode on horseback to the stadium and delivered the news to the royal box and Louis had to fight his way through a welcoming crowd.

A popular winner indeed.