RAZOR’S EDGE AT MELBOURNE

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28158, 22 December 1956, Page 5

RAZOR’S EDGE AT MELBOURNE

[Specially written for “The Press” by Dr. ROGER * * break the 4min mile.] STER ’ the first man to . PXPT f <1 . LONDON, December 12. I A PART VT ,hc a ‘»’osphere of friendliness so successfully created by Australia, there were two I outstanding features of the Melbourne Games First the incessant, irresistible surge of record-breaking with 17 new records in the 21 men’s athletic events? and new J records in all nine women’s events. Second. Britain’s amazing recovery in all-round sporting ability, which enabled us to gain six gold medals compared with only I one at Helsinki four years before. J Last Thursday the Russians won 12 gold medals in a day, with their gymnastics and Graeco-Roman wrestling. Even allowing for a personal bias, I hardly think these medals rank equal in importance with the medals for athletics. The Russians may fight hard for places in these teams but in America, if you enjoy walking along parallel bars on vour hands or can stand a sweaty embrace on the matting, then, I suspect the Olympic way is wide open. ’

By comparison, the Russians’ much- | raunted men's track teams gained snly three medals against America’s 15. Outstanding athletes are not turned out by any training machine. Russia, on the other hand, excelled it the sports in which painstaking drilling is essential, and also in the team games But it was amusing to see their soccer team completely at b loss when it faced a situation not described in the text books. This was when eight Indonesian players stuck round their own goal for the whole game. Most British third division teams would have improvised tactics to meet the situation; the Indonesians forced the Russians to a stalemate. But by thinking about it for two days, the Russians won the replay 4-0. Personally I saw no international incidents. Athletes do compete as individuals and often the bond of

respect between competitors in an event is greater than between fellow members of a country’s team. For example, there was the honesty with which the Norwegian runner in the steeplechase assured 'he International jury that Brasher had not interfered with his running. A word from him rightly or wrongly would have taken Brashers hard won medal from him, if none of the glory. Partisanship The Australian crowd set out with the idea of applauding all victors equally, but after a few days, of course, a little partisanship crept in st the sight of an Australian vest, p.e schoolgirl behind me shrieked, “Betty, you beaut,” whenever Betty Cuthbert as much as put a foot on the track; but perhaps Baron de Conbertin would forgive them. In the men’s sprints there was a lull in record-breaking, and I have no doubt that the curve of sprint improvement being less affected than distance running, by new training methods, is flattening out. Soon we shall time sprint races in hundredths of a second instead of tenths. For the first time for more than 20 years no coloured sprinter finished m the first three in the 100 metres, shaking the myth that they are inherently faster. In the 400 metres the misjudgment of a hopelessly fast first half of the race cost Lon Jones, the world record holder, the gold medal, just as the same mistake cost Herbert McKinley the victory m 194 8 and gave Arthur Wint ms cnance. . Many races were influ- • J nce Ly this loss of judgment under tne inertasing nervous strain Olym- , Pic competition. 800 Metres Derek Johnson’s race in the 800 Metres against the great American. iom Courtney, ranks with Brasher’s •eeplechase as the best British perrormance of the games, and has some-

I thing of the same significance. Johnson, by combining outstanding natural | ability with tactical and competitive sense, re-established the British claim to produce great middle-distance runners, which has waned slightly since Tommy Hampson won our last 800-metre gold medal in 1932. I shall' never forget the moment, when 80 yards from the tape, Johnson courageously seized the opportunity to fling himself into the narrow gap of the daylight that opened suddenly between A. Boyson and Courtney. With 50 yards to go he had snatched a four-foot lead. Thousands asked the same question: had he struck too soon against the fierce head wind? The race turned to slow motion as the crowd rose to cheer the closest struggle aay ' The American, using his 1801 b to advantage, hauled back the four-foot lead inch by inch and 20 yards from the tape the two fighters were level, every muscle taut, their strength waning with each stride. It was Johnson who told the tottering and disbelieving Courtney that he had won, and gave him friendly but unsteady support. This pair rank with the greatest half-milers of all time. Kuts The 5000 and 10.000 metres showed that the mantle of Zatopek has fallen on Kuts. I disagree with those who say Kuts is necesarily a better runner than Zatopek because he has broken Zatopek’s Olympic records. Times do not necessarily make the better runner. Few spectators realise the improvement that must be expected in these distance races. The runner who aspires to defeat Kuts must not only have great natural ability; he must train with frightening intensity. As for the women, for whom rigorous and scientific training is in its infancy, we must expect a margin of improvement in all events far greater than that of the men. Watching countless Olympic races in the last two weeks has heightened my belief that so far as they can be separated, there is much less difference between the ability of various athletes than their mental strength. The quality needed by victors is the capacity for mental excitement, which brings with it the ability to overcome or ignore the discomfort, even pain, of supreme effort. It is the psychological factors that set the razor’s edge of defeat or victory and determine how close an athlete approaches the absolute limits of performance.