OLYMPIC GAMES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 149, 24 June 1908, Page 5

OLYMPIC GAMES.

■ (Received 9 a.m.) LONDON, June 23. j Lord Desborough, president of the j Olympic Games' Committee, is appealing j for subscriptions in order to sho-.v hospijtality to foreign and" colonial competitors iat the Olympic games. There are 1200 competitors, at the I Olympic games, and representatives are present from al] the corners of the earth. The games "were inaugurated at Athens in 1800, and are held every four years, this being the fourth contest of the series. A magnificent stadium has been erected at Shepherd's Bush, in the Exhibition grounds, capable of seating seventy thousand spectators. In the centre of the stadium is a turf arena 700 feet in length and 300 feet wide, around which a running track lias been made, having three laps to the mile, and i<. cycling track with two and threeI quarter hips to the mile. Provision has I also been made for swimming sports. • There are to be two series of games,"the i first consisting of athletics, cycling, fenejing. gymnastics, swimming, etc., opening Jin the stadium during last week, and the winter games, sucli as football, I hockey, etc., on 15M.h October. In connecUion with the.meeting there will be rifie and pistol shooting at Bisley, yachting at Cowes, motor-vac-ing at Bvooklands, and goll, tenuis, aud other competitions at the most suitable places. More than twenty countries will send representatives to compete at the meeting, which is expected to furnish a new record in athletic gatherings, both in the number and quality of the competitions. j