Athletics.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13679, 22 August 1908, Page 2 (Supplement)

Athletics.

AMERICAN SUPERIORITY. " Pry's .Magazine'? Jar June ought to prepare ite to see the American athletes carry oft 1 - all the prizes at the; Shepherd's Rush Stadium.: At the. Olympic Games'! in '1896 the summary, of results was that "the Hungarians, won nothing but the .' swimming ; • the.. 'Frenchmen nothing hilt thei bicycling; and fencing; the Greeks wtm nothing bub the race from Marathon and the rope-swarming; 'the Germans wnn nothing hut the- gymnastics and the wrestling; the Dane, the Swede, and the Sww? won something or other; ' the Englishmen won, a. couple of races, 'the lawn tetiniis and some weight-lifting, and concocted '.a Pindaric Giw>k Ode on things in general: the; Americans .-vron . mostly . -what' .they cliose," ' '.. ." . '■■ ; ' ' .', ■

At ,1 lie Olympic: Games at Athens two years ago 'the- American success was even hioie overwhelming:—Of-the scventi-Ph inain "events" no less than eleven went .-to the l Amoricnhs. England •won oin? went, tho five:..miles' (running), whicltwas 'credited to' ft. C. Hawtry.. Ireland. won the running high jump, and 'the hop, "stop, and jump. France won the pole-jump; Hungary the two-mite walk. Canada, won the Marathon, race, twenty-six miles. That -in, Great Britain and Greater Britain won four; event s—including the. hop, step, and jump, which is an event, of nn . great; standing.! The, continental nations won two -events; America all the rest. . Jn 19G0 at the Paris Exhibition of the twenty-four so-called world's championj'shirw .events, America won eighteen, Eneland four,-Hungary one, and. France one. Willi these records behind them the Americans fairly-expect to make short, work of their competitors at- the Shepherd's Bush Stadium.. Thorn, is something in , the American climate which ■•'stimulates-'' 'the athlete's nervous energy. Our |iope ;of liM-ling 'the Americans- is* that the English climate will come to J-he rescue and deprive them of their" snap and spring. The Americans, however, are sure to win. in all contests which require a concent rated, outburst- oT nervous energy. England .will cany off races that fall to men of greater si amina- and endurance. George Washington was one of the best athletes in America, covering a long jiimp of twenty-two , feet- one inch, without training, on a village green, ■