OLYMPIC GAMES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22399, 21 April 1936, Page 16

OLYMPIC GAMES

DOMINION COMPETITORS THREE ATHLETES OF NOTE LOVELOCK, BOOT, MATTHEWS Although only three in number, the athletic team to represent New Zealand at the Olympic Games at Berlin next August is a' particularly strong one, each member at which, having recorded times equivalent to international standards, lias fully earned the honour he has achieved. The Dominion's greatest hopes will rest on J. E. Lovelock, the finest athlete New Zealand has produced, who formerly held the world s mile record of 4in 7 .'5-ss. Although lie has been studying in England lor several years, Lovelock lias always run in New Zealand colours when competing in international company. He will concentrate on the 1500 metres, approximately IG4O yards, for which he will bo one of the favourites. The second member of the team, C. H. Matthews, who is 21 years of ago. has already run two and three miles in New Zealand record times and his performances have been even better than those of the famous Randolph Hose and J. W. Savidan. His best time in a three miles run is 14m 18 3-os, figures which will go clown as a British Empire record. He will compete in the 5000 metres, a little further than three miles, and possibly the 10,000 metres. Holder of the national half-mile and one mile titles and half-mile and 1000 yards records, V. P. Boot, third member of the team, is the most promising middle-distance runner New Zealand lias produced. Ideally built for record breaking, lie is still somewhat handicapped by inexperience—lie is only -0 yeais ol age —but is showing improved judgment with every race.

MIDDLE-DISTANCE STAR BOOT'S RISE TO PROMINENCE It is only three years sinco Boot first came before tlio athletic public. As a fitting opening to a career which promises to be a great one, he bioke the mile record held by J. E. Lovelock at the annual sports of the liinaru Boys' High School in 1933. His tune of 4m 26 4-ss, a new British Empire schoolboys' record, was well within Lovelock's figures for the school ot 4m 425. At the same meeting Boot ran the half-mile in exactly ~m, remarkable time for a schoolboy. Boot's first title was the junior crosscountry championship of South Canterbury. He has done a great deal ot cross country running and a performance of his' that will bo remembered was his run in the last Takahe-Akaroa race, in which he struggled on gamely for a considerable distance after he had broken a bone in his foot. As a student at Lincoln College, hs made further progress with his athletics, winning most of the college track titles and breaking several records. This year he began training early, but did not, until the end of the season, make an impression as an Olympic Games candidate. His mile championship of Canterbury, run in 4m 21 2-ss, made him a distinct possibility for the national championship. At Dunedin he registered two very solid performances, winning the New Zealand mile and half-mile titles with ease, after thrilling the crowd with two of the greatest runs, and certainly the most devastating finishing sprints yet seen at Dunedin. . Running with a watch in a trial mile race at Wellington a few weeks later, he was beaten on the tape by A: It. Wilson, of Wellington, in 4m 255, which, for the time being, put him out of the running for the Olympic nomination. He returned to the lists, however, with the memorable half-mile run at Lancaster Park on March 24 when, helped over the distance by T. G. Broadway, he returned the remarkable time of im 53 2-ss, easily the best Isew Zealand time for the race. This run, the finest half-mile seen on any New Zealand ground, placed him again among the possibilities,' and when he made a successful attempt on Broadway's figures for 1000 yards, covering the distance in 2m 14 3-ss, he was practically assured of selection.