OLYMPIC GAMES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 24 July 1924, Page 5

OLYMPIC GAMES.

COMMENTS ON BAD SPORT. 8Y CABLE—rBESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT „ LONDON, July 22. Hie newspapers point out that instead of friendly and honourable rivalry, bad sports and international animosity were manifested throughout the games Some even say that the shamehu incidents in Paris spell the doom of the Olympic movement.—-Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. CONTINENTSL SPORTS. THE LATIN TEMPER A AIENT. SOME BLACK SHEEP. LONDON, July 22. Members of the athletic executive who arrived in London generally disappiove pi the idea, ol a British team not participating in future Olympiads. They are of opinion that, as the Eng-lish-speaking people taught the Continent sports they should continue to teach, them sportsmanship. Abrahams, interviewed, said there were bound to he disputes when fortyfive nations were competing. He suggested that the Olympiad programme needs pruning. Far too many sports have been added to the classic list. W ith fewer competitors and a more restricted range the participants would be able to get together and cement international friendship. The returned sportsmen generally take a less serious view of matters than what is expressed in the Times newspaper criticism.

It is unofficially learned that the Olympic Council does not subscribe to the idea that the Olympiads are dead. It is pointed out that any unpleasantness was due to the excitable Latin temperament rather than to calculated animosity. It is admitted that French crowds do not display the impartiality usually associated with English sporting crowds, but demonstrations of partisanship perhaps demonstrated national comradeship more than international antipathy. There was certainly not any lack of friendliness among the competitors themselves. PARIS. July 22. Baron Decouhertin, replying to the Times criticism, said that, if discouraged by the isolated case of a. lack of discipline by the inevitable black sheep, it would be better to cancel, the Amsterdam and Los Angeles games forthwith. He considered a superb sporting spirit was shown in Paris, and his colleagues agreed with that view.