The Evening Star SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1938. THE EMPIRE GAMES.

Evening Star, Issue 22881, 12 February 1938, Page 14

The Evening Star SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1938. THE EMPIRE GAMES.

The Empire Games being held in Sydney are nearing their end. On the whole, New Zealanders have reason to be pleased with the performances of their representatives. Unfortunately it is true that in many spheres of activity, such as swimming and boxing, wearers of the traditional black have not greatly distinguished themselves. In other events, however, notably long-distance running, the successes gained have been so conspicuous and even sensational as to place the name of the Dominion well before the people in many lands who will have been following with much interest the various sporting events held this week. The New Zealand long-distance running team is a strong one, ably fitted to uphold the national reputation sealed fay J. E. Lovelock at the last Olympic Games and in other races held at about that period. Judged from the population viewpoint, New Zealand is a small country, but Nature has endowed it with ample facilities for building up a healthy manhood and cultivating athletic prowess.' If in a few respects we are not quite holding our own with overseas rivals as did many of our champions in the past, it may be logical and perhaps comforting to conclude that our training systems have not progressed with the times. In the course of the world-wide competition that now exists, new and sound methods of preparing athletes for their teste have been devised. In long-distance running men like Matthews and Boot, who have figured prominently in Sydney, have most likely gained useful knowledge from Lovelock, and also from their own experiences at the last Olympic Games. More than ever it becomes clear that the mind has to play a big part in the development of technique. Under expert coaches athletes must be taught to conserve their energy until the great efforts are required of them and to make the most in every way of their inborn capabilities.

No serious notice need be taken of the points awarded for national success in the Empire Games. If the teams from each country were of ocjual

strength numerically, then and only then would it be possible to arrive at a true method of distributing honours. The real purpose of the Games is based on the declaration of faith as put by the Olympiad progenitor, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who said; “ Before all, it is necessary that we should preserve in sport those characteristics of nobility and chivalry which have distinguished it in the past, so that it may continue to play the same part in the education of the peoples of to-day as it played so admirably in the days of ancient Greece.” These worthy sentiments have not always been upheld in the strictest sense, but the majority of the competitors in both the Olympic and Empire Games must be credited with a sincere desire to follow up the healthful inspiration. The results in toto have been so satisfactory as to preclude any possibility of the abandonment of the two most comprehensive athletic pageants in the world tq-day. The Empire Games may be described as an offshoot of the Olympiad, given further impetus as a- result of games held in 1920 between the British Empire and the United States, the •' first purely Empire sports gathering, held at Hamilton, Ontario, in 1930, was so successful that it was decided then and there to stage similar displays every four years midway between the Olympic Games. Tho nest series of games was organised in England, and this year it seemed fitting that Sydney, on account of the sesqiiicentenary celebrations in New South Wales, should ibe the chosen locale. As far as can be gathered from the cablegrams, the weather has favoured the assembled sportsmen, and as the competing teams have also been strong, many Empire Games and Australian records have been broken. It remains to be seen whether, in the face of the highly-developed technique now applied to athletic sports, the records established this week will he left intact for very long.