ATHLETICS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 30 August 1924, Page 12

ATHLETICS.

NURMI’S “SIMPLE LIFE.” Writing a couple of days before the opening of the Olympic Games, Outpost (Athletic News) 'has this to say of the great Finnish runner, Nurmi: — The most amazing thing I saw in the practice trials was the training spin of Nurmi, the Finn. He had just concluded a long and arduous task, and naturally I looked for a famous athlete to be valeted and waited upon like a prince. Nothing of the kind. Nurmi finished his training run, and a press photographer asked him if he > would pose for a few seconds while he* snapped him. I suppose in good Finnish Nurmi said, “No,” and dripping with perspiration, which he wiped away with a small, hard towel, he proceeded to disrobe in the open air. I have heard and read stories of Finns who were massaged and almost “baked upon the stake” to get fit and achieve fame, hut I have never heard of such self-imposed by so distinguished a runner as Nurmi. My information is that he abhors massage, and is content simply to dry his skin after a physical effort of track training. If he is well advised, and results prove the methods adopted to be successful, we are going back to where we started many generations ago. My opinion is that Nurmi and his compatriots—the brothers Kohlemainen —are phenomenal. They are the class of men who come along in periods, generations like Harry Hutchens, Deerfoot, and others who would have run and won whether there had been any embrocation or masseurs on the earth or not.