THE OLYMPIC GAMES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 209, 5 April 1913, Page 8

THE OLYMPIC GAMES.

GERMAN PREPARATIONS. "WE SHALL STAKE EVERYTHING FOR VICTORY." Carl Diem, president of the German J Amateur Athletic Union, and general secretary of the Sixth Olympiad, Berlin, 1916, writes as follows in the "Daily Mail.":— J The decision of the International Olympiad at Berlin in 1910 did not find Germany unprepared. Only a short time before, building and financial plans had been completed for the erection of the Berlin Stadium, which guarantees the next world contest in athletics a worthy setting. In its general lines the Berlin Stadium will most nearly approach the stadium erected at Shepherd's Bush for the London Olympiad. It is located in the Grunewald, the beautiful forest on the western outskirts of Berlin, in the exact middle of the racecourse of the Berlin Jockey Club. The stadium's normal seating capacity will be 27,000, but it will be so constructed as to make room for many ' j thousands more if necessary. The cost , I of the stadium is estimated at £112,500, 1 , which has. been raised from private sources. The formal dedication of the stadium will take place on June 8. The German athletic world purposes embracing this opportunity for paying homage to the Kaiser on the 25th jubilee of his < reign. To that end the athletic and '■ gymnastic organisations of provincial > towns and cities will send delegations totalling 10.000 men, while Greater Bei- ; lin itself will appear with an additional 20,000. Thus it is hoped that a procession of 30,000 athletes will march in serried ranks before the Imperial box j and doff their caps and banners to the (Emperor. The formal dedicatory ceremonial over, the stadium will henceforth be given over .exclusively to preparation for the Olympic events of 1916. Organisation work, of course, has long been in progress. I THE GAMES TO COST £75,000. The idea of the Olympic games has in the course of time expanded far beyond its original proportions. Nothing indicates that more plainly than the fact that the London Games cost £15,000, and I that the cost of the Berlin Games is estimated at £75,000. This latter sum includes, of course, considerable out- ! lay for training of teams of all sorts, I which are to be prepared in the very i best possible manner . The games theni- / selves will naturally not produce reveii'i ■ sufficient to cover the sum above n tioned. It will be met, therefore. 1;.- | subsidies from the Imperial (Jen- j and Prussian Governments as well ■■• ■■ from the municipal treasury of Berlin. From among the -2,500,000 German athletes and gymnasts who are represented by the Imperial German Committee for Olympic sports we propose to find athletic talent capable of meeting any competitor at Berlin in 1010. It will be discovered by a long and regular series of elimination competitions through- ' out the country, including games in The ' army and among boys and young men l leaving the schools and svmnasia. Wlier- ' ever found desirable, athletic and sport- ' ing life in foreign countries will be 1

thoroughly p.nd systematically investigated in order to learn and borrow the best methods employed abroad. In certain prospect is a '"'study trip" to the United States, where such amazing progress and successes in all branches of sports have been achieved. Germany has made long strides in sport in recent years, but in respect of special training, as perfected in America, we have still much to learn.

WHY GERMANY WANTS TO WIN. I In Germany special steps have been taken to prevent athletes from degenerating into mere exhibitions of personal skill by a few extraordinarily ' gifted men. ' Our idea is that sports should be developed on such lines as to arouse the interest of the broad masses of the people and goad them on to fresh, independent work. Therefore, with us the number of spectators at games is smaller than abroad, but the number of participants greater. A relay race from Potsdam to Berlin, for example, a distance of over 16 miles, with 00 teams of ~>o men each —that is to say. a total of 3,000 starters on one day—is ' air athletic spectacle not to be "witnessed anywhere else in the world. It is just this large total of active athletes which guarantees a worthy showing for German sport in lOlli. " For us, as for the rest of the world, the Olympic Games, are no selfish object. We look upon; them as a regularly recurring test oi ■ our athletic prowess, which we gladly' i enter, and in which we shall do our besit. Indeed we shall stake everything; on victory, but not to the mere end of winning, for in triumphs in games we recognise chiefly an impetus to the nation at large to avail itself of the joys and benefits of athletics and to seek in healthy sport distraction and recreation from the corroding influences of our modern competitive existence. Athletics, in other words, are viewed by us Germans as a means of fortifying and solidifying the national strength. Tvi, that spirit we are determined to excel as far as lies in our power. We desire, . above all. that the world, if it accepts i

our hearty invitation for 1916, shall And in competition with us, that it is matching its muscle and brain against men who are true friends of genuine