TROUBLE AT OLYMPIAD.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIV, Issue 1076, 24 July 1924, Page 5

TROUBLE AT OLYMPIAD.

EXCITABLE LATINS BLAMED. LONDON, July 22. Sportsmen who attended the Olympiad take a less serious view of matters than that expressed in the Times newspaper criticism of the allegedly unsportsmanlike tactics of some of the competitors und spectators. It is officially learned tltut the Olympic ('ouncil doe- not suscribe. to the idea that Olympiads are dead. It is pointed out. that any unpleasantness was due to the excitable Latin temperament rather than calculated animosity. It is admitted that French, crowds do not display the impartiality usually associated with English sporting crowds, but these demonstrations of partisanship perhaps demonstrated national comradeship more than international antipathy. There was certainly not any lack of friendliness among tho competitors themselves.

Members of the athletic executive who have arrived in London generally disapprove of the idea of Britishers not participating in future Olympia'ds. They are of the opinion that as English-speaking people taught the Continent to be Sports, they should continue to tench them sportsmanship. Abrahams, on being interviewed, said there were bound to ho disputes- when forty-five nations were competing. He suggested that the Olympic programme needed priming. Far too many sports had been added to the classic list. With fewer competitors and a more restricted range, the participants would he able to get together and cement international friendship.—A. and N T ..Z cable.

REPLY TO CRITICISM.

PARIS, July 22. Baron de Couhertin, in replying to the Times’s criticism, said: "If we were to be discouraged by an isolated case of lack of discipline by the inevitable, black sheep, it would he better to cancel the Amsterdam and Los Angeles games forthwith.” He considered that superb sporting spirit was shown in Paris, and his colleagues have agreed with that view—A. and N.Z. cable.

LESS SERIOUS VIEWPOINT.