A RENAISSANCE OF SPORT

Te Aroha News, Volume XLI, Issue 6544, 15 November 1924, Page 1

A RENAISSANCE OF SPORT

THE GUERDON OF THE OLYMPIC VICTOR Under the brilliant skies of Greece more than twenty-five hundred years ago young men from every Greek city and countryside assembled for each keen to win the crown of olive that was the guerdon of the victor. To be a conqueror at the Olympic games was the highest ambition. Under the pale skies of Paris, came together at the Stadium of Colombes young men from the four corners of 'the earth, speaking many tongues and playing games unknown to the Olympians. It marked a veritable renaissance of sport, declares the “New York Times,” which, like the other Renaissance of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, has gone back to Greece for its inspiration. To be sure, the immediate impetus of the modern movement came from England and America, and the call for the, first modern Olympic games was issued by a frenchman. This is an era of sport, but an era so recent that it may be said in every sense to belong to the world of to-day. Cricket and football are still in their infancy, and despite the age of tennis and golf "their common practice is new to our own day,. Not even track events have been long or widely practiced until lately, and rowing is still confined to a few colleges and schools near suitable water. All of this is hard to believe for a generation brought up under an educational system where athletics may almost.be said to have priority over studies. We have come to take sport for granted and have developed a worship of athletic heroes that has given birth to a corps of Homers whose chronicles of the day’s events fill columns of the sporting pages of our newspapers. But not even America’s mania for baseball is comparable to the veneration of the old Greeks for sport and for the heroes of the great gamOs. To them the gathering at Olympia was a ceremonial id which Greek youth gave of its best.

The gathering outside the walls of Paris is the direct Revival of the old Greek games, the track and field events. The fencing matches were marked by unusual skill, but in some cases, unfortunately, were accompanied by political; manifestations and rivalries. Particularly was this noticeable among some of the spectators,, who have been charged with conduct unbecoming sportsmen and gentlemen. *To be a good loser, whether as contestant or as spectator, and to demand and give fair play are the two canons •of good sportsmanship. These are learned only by discipline, and that discipline is one of the greatest benefits of athletics.

American teams have always made a fine showing at the modern Olympic games. The eighth Olympiad found America represented by youth from all parts of the country.