ATHLETICS AMATEUR PLEDGE

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28162, 28 December 1956, Page 8

ATHLETICS AMATEUR PLEDGE

Clause To Be Considered (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 8 p.m.) SANTA BARBARA (California), Dec. 24. The chairman of the International Olympic Committee. Mr Avery Brundage. said today that the committee would attempt to put through new amateur rules similar to the controversial pledge clause deleted this year. Mr Brundage said that the committee planned to take up the hotly debated issue next September at a meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria. "What will be done. I do not know, but some amplification of the amateur question is still needed.” he said. The committee last year added to the pledge: “I am an amateur” (the controversial clause): “And intend to remain (an amateur).” The four words were deleted after a furore several months before this year’s Olympic Games at Melbourne, Australia. Mr Brundage said that the clause was weak and it had been distorted and misunderstood. He felt that the word “intend’ was a weak word. “After all. what does the word, intend, mean? It means nothing,” he said. U.S. Woman Athlete Of 1956 Chosen (Rec. 9 p.m.) NEW YORK. Dec. 6. Mrs Patricia McCormick, the winner of two gold medals in the Melbourne Olympic Games in diving events, was selected as the outstanding female American athlete of 1956 in a poll of sports writers today. As a result, she will be awarded the Babe Didrikson Zaharias trophy, given in memory of the famed woman athlete who died earlier this year. Australia’s Betty Cuthbert, an outstanding runner, was ranked ninth in the poll, which was conducted by the American Associated Press. PIRIE WINS THREEMILE RACE MELBOURNE, December 27. The British Olympic distance runner, Gordon Pirie, easily won the three miles race at an athletic meeting at Frankston, near Melbourne yesterday. A feature of the race was the great effort by the Melbourne runner. Geoff Fleming, who was placed second and is regarded as an 880 yards "specialist.” The race was run on a heavy track after heavy rain earlier in the day. Pine’s time was 14min 12.3 sec. •nd Fleming’s 14min 14.4 sec.