ATHLETICS

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 31 October 1925, Page 14

ATHLETICS

THE WOMAN ATHLETE. It is not surprising that, although the comparative capabilities of man and woman in athletics was a topic > only incidentally mentioned in the development of his thesis by Professor A. V. Hill, in his address at the British Association meeting, it has captured the public fancy. Man, Professor Hill says, runs faster than woman because, weight for weight, he has a greater amount of available power or energy. This explanation has encouraged the inevitable crop of counter explanations. One fair authority believes that an element in the athletic superiority of her sex is provided by her slightly higher normal temperature. She may be right—-one-tenth of a degree shall not part- us —but in my experience many great (male) athletes have a subnormal temperature, which seems to lie a feature of the athletic temperament. Length of limb is naturally an “obvious” explanation of male superiority in running. The adult sprinter lias a maximum stride of eight feet, with an average throughout of nearly seven feet, and a striding frequency of just over four-and-a-half per second. Woman has run 50 yards only 3-ssec. slower than the record. She does run well for a short distance, because it is easier to start and acquire speed on a low gear. When the Olympia sprint champion was five years old his older brothers were amused to find it impossible to give him a start of four yards in ten. For the first few yards he travelled as rapidly as they could. As for the jumping feats of men and of women, in long jumping velocity must, of course, be an important factor ; compare the records for the standing and running long jumps—lift. sin. and 25ft. Sin. respectively. But were velocity the sole factor, only very great sprinters would be Champion long jumpers, which is certainly not the case. The other great factor is the capacity for elevating the. centre of gravity, and for anatomical reasons again man scores heavily over woman in this

In the high jump the small part played by velocity is denoted by the comparative figures for the reoord standing and running jumps—sft. sin. and 6ft. Bin. respectively. High jumping is a remarkable muscular feat. By a series of contortions a short man like Lewden, the great French high jumper, can clear the bar nearly a foot above his head. For me it was a> remarkable revelation to see a young woman clear the substantial height of sft. But it is misleading to draw general conclusions from such exceptions.