THE OLYMPIC GAMES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 149, 23 June 1906, Page 12

THE OLYMPIC GAMES.

MISMANAGEMENT AND YANKEE' "BLUFF." (From Our Special Correspondent)' [ LONDON, ]% u> Weird stories of mismanagement Jm efficiency and bia ß have been broju home from the. Olympic Games by th. English athletes. They are all of op? ion that the Games were decided in such a manner that it was almost inrpossibls for many of the best competitors to est justice. Mr. T. G. Matthews, of the Put! ney Athletic Club, is particularly oht spoken in his published eomniaits 'The English delegates who were on the international jury to control the running events," he said, "could not bold their own with the foreign and American delegates, who invariably got their own way. The Americans in particular ap. pealed time after time when events vera decided against their countrymen. "Happily for the English competitors in the swimming aud cycling events, they had two strong men to uphold'their rights, although both these gentlemen had a hard task in opposing the many claims of the obstinate Italian, German, and Austrian delegates, wdio knew absolutely nothing about racing. "American 'bluff' came off nearlyevery time. They appealed against decisions given to Englishmen, for the simple, reason that they went to Athens with tho sole idea of securing more points than our countrymen. They knew we could win the high jump, so persuaded the iuthorities to have the hop, step and jump event directly before the jumping contest, so that our men would bo tired for the jump. Happily this ruse failed, as 7p» pulled off both events. | "Healy was robbed of the hurdle reel, After he had cleared the sixth hurdle and was winning, some one rushed in front of him and stopped him, on the ground that a German (who had no chance) was qualified for the final, and was .not run* ning. The Yankees upheld the appeal,' the race was ordered to be re-run, and - an American won this time. "Wilkinson was disqualified for the walking races for the reason that the judges were not acquainted with nioderii walking methods. As a matter of fact, Wilkinson feared disqualification if hi got too far in front, and throughout botk ; events was walking far below his real pace. " • ; Vr ; To prevent a recurrence of this sort of thing at the next meeting.. I suggesttfiai the English athletic bodies hold beforehand and send athletes out'liti the understanding that they will hart justice. : -> ;^; "Th" Greek Government allowed £2fl# towards the expenses of English athletes, but, as a matter of fact, the men thi won at Athens did not receive a penajfof this. The Crock representative in Lender, was hoodwinked as to the disposal of this grant. . ' "The Cniversities were given £60 0! this, and eight tickets to. stay at hotels at the Greeks' expense. As the best "Var» sity athletes could not make the journfey, the money should have gone to another quarter. Instead of which undergraduv ates went out who had no chance what* ever of winning, at the Government's tt pense. "That the British Olympic Association will do anything for athletes I do noli believe. It is a self-constituted body, with men at its head who are interested in fencing only. They tried on this oca* sion to stop men from going who nomiih ated themselves and who were willing to pay their own expenses. These ' men* however, went, and, moreover, won theil races." . '' 7 In connection with the above it may bel stated that O'Connor lodged a' formal protest against Prinstein being 'awarded the running broad jump at the Oljinpii Games on the following grounds i r- U That Prinstein's number being 46, hf jumped out of his turn, going third, iirj order to take advantage of the smoouj track before it was cut up. 2. That Paly pin, the athletic manager of the Amerw can team, in the temporary absence o| Perry, the official measurer of the jumps* assumed the sole duties of judge,, meaj surer, and declarer of the distance of each jump, the other judge, a Greek, hold* ing the tape at the take-off end. 3. Thai Halpin, while thus acting officially, de» clared as foul two of O'Connor's jump* one of which exceeded Prinstein's alleges) jumps of 23ft 7"dn. 4' O'Connor strong objects to Halpin, as an interested party* measuring and judging the American jumps. With regard to Balpin's ruling that two of his jumps were foul, O'ConnOE asks for an official inquiry, and offers evidence in support of his statement O'Connor points out that in his letter t» the jury that Prinstein's winning jump* as returned only by Halpin, was his first It is a fact unprecedented in the history of jumping for a man to do his best jump first. Prinstein's average jump in great competitions for the past five years » 22ft Oh), compared with O'Connor's sim* 1 lar average of 23ft lOin. He also assert* that in no subsequent jump on Friday* wher. watched, did Prinstein exceed 22ft Gin. The protest was, however, disaK lowed. >