Shizo Kanakuri disappeared while running the marathon in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm.
He was listed as a missing person in Sweden for 50 years — until a journalist found him living quietly in southern Japan.
Overcome with heat during the race, he had stopped at a garden party to drink juice, stayed for an hour or so, chatted to locals, washed his face, then took a train to a hotel before sailing home the next day, too ashamed to tell anyone he was leaving.
There’s a happy ending:
In 1966 Kanakuri accepted an invitation to return to Stockholm and complete his run.
His final time was 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 8 hours, 32 minutes and 20.3 seconds — a record that will probably last forever.
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