Michel Bréal was a French intellectual who envisioned the marathon as the crowning event of the modern Olympic Games. This race did not exist in antiquity (the longest running event in ancient Olympia was just 4.6 km / 3mi) but he drew inspiration from the legend about the runner who announced the Athenian victory in Marathon. Bréal ignored the actual distance or the nature of the terrain, but felt that this novel sporting event would enhance the connection with the classical past, and offered a silver cup for the winner (gold for first place finish was adopted much later). His idea became wildly popular and people felt it would be impossible to avoid holding the event.