The first marathon race in modern time was at the first olympic games in Athens, Greece, in 1896.
The distance was at that point 24.8 miles, from the Marathon bridge to the stadium of Athens. The winner was Spiridon Louis of Greece, who ran the distance in 2:58:50, beating the runner up with 7 minutes.
The current distance of 26.3 miles was initially created for the 1908 Olympic Games in London, United Kingdom, so that the game could start at Windsor Castle and end in front of the royal box. This distance was made official by IAAF in 1921.