WOMEN ATHLETES

Hokitika Guardian, 28 September 1928, Page 7

WOMEN ATHLETES

EPISODE AT OLYMPIC LAMES. DOCTOR’S WARNING. LONDON, Aug. 10. Many of those*who saw the finish of the women’s 800 metres race at the Olympic Games carne to the conclusion that no good could come ifiom such contests. Nine women took part in the race. Frau Hadlee, the winner, was the only runner who did not appear to be suffering from dangerous strain.

One dropped out with a pathetic gesture of despair with half a lap still to go, and nearly all the others collapsed immediately tiiey passed the post. Miss Htorni,i of Japan, who had made a most exciting last-minute effort, had to be massaged before she could go off the ground, and she finally limped away to her dressing-room too tired to put on her shoes. The two Canadian contestants, Miss Rosenfeld and Miss Thompson. fell side by side the moment they finished, .and lay motionless on t§e grass as German cheers led the nations in the Stadium in saluting the victor. But even as they cheered, men as well as women turned pitying eyes on the prostrate figures.

Miss Thompson, a pretty girl with fair bobbed hair, lay face downwards, her head on one arm, sobbing convulsively. Three ?of her yompanions in misf I'time knelt and tried 1 vainly to'"console her. She. appeared to be in pain as well ;as to be suffering from the disappointment of her defeat.. She had come, in fourth, but .even that real achievement.'was as; nothing to her com pa red' [with the grea teg victory she had lost, and; she would not he comforted. . . The Stadium sighed with re-, lief when at last she dried her tears and with downcast head wajked with effort, off the .field between two supporting friends.

“ THOSE FOOLISH WOMEN.” Photographs of the finish of the race show vividly The exhaustion and physical strain of the -competitors. “ Those foolish women,” said a Har ley strteet woman doctor who was interviewed, “ cannot know the dangers they are running. It is apparent from this picture that these women are sub ■ jetting themselves to a strain that no woman should undergo.

“ In a year or two they will find that their hearts have become enlarged, and instead of being physically fit they wil become old long before their time Under these ordeals a woman is alst liable to displace the other organs which may lead to very serious trouble “We know the dangers that women run when they think they can stand ti e same strain as men.. It is not pos sible; their bodies are not made for it/ We are constantly getting rases o women who will not take physical exer cise in moderation. “ There are, of course, many women nowadays who do not want motherhood and who have no interest ill these nor in a I functions. Should they cluing' their minds later on they will find-in many 'cases alter talcing part in these feats that it is too late.”