ATHLETIC.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19815, 5 December 1919, Page 2

ATHLETIC.

The. Swedish, Norwegian and .Danish ; A-A.A.'s hold u triangular challenge i nlatdi—a kind of Scandinavian Oivrnpiacl— at the Stockholm .Stadium,' on August 31. Conditions called lor foiiv- _ teen wonts, ouch country to have two I representatives in each event, but one. ! only to count. This is their thirdmeet- . injr. and the Swedish A.A.A., who had I easily won on tho previous occasions, followed it up by Rlmost sweeping tho board—tho Swedes won in twelve ;' events, whilst in the relay race one of iheir team fell, and in the javelin throw their crack was taken ill. Some [, of the performances were quite first- ( class, and several records were estab-li-bed. N. Engdahl (Swedenl won the -100 metres in 19.3scc. and his time for , 110 yds was 4f).7see. R« jUso won the j HO metres in Usee. S. JAiudgren (Sweden) won the 1000 metres in 4-min 3.750 c. A. Bolin (Sweden") the POO ' metres m Imin Sfi.Hsec a.nd E. Uackman (Sweden 1 ) the 5000 metres m. Mmin oUec. After quoting the views of the T3np- , lrdi writer "Old Bine" fn favour of . the retention on sports proarammes of . the hammer-throwing event. "Prodi- . ual"' writes as follows in the Sydney , " lleferee•':--Personally T am of the . Opinion that, the liamnier might, with ( advantage, bo deleted from 'nil our . championship programmes, and either , throwing the javelin or the disoii* sub- , stituted. To all intents and purposes, I no promoting body in our world of ama~ . tenr athletics includes a hammer throw . on its programme unless compelled to . do so- Again, on nrobnblv the majority of our grounds. ha.mmer-t t hrowrn<: . is barred. 1 n .m in no wav against ' hammer-tlirowin,, „ t)< j er fne condi- • tions-the implement ' thrown the Scotch s.tyle from a. stand; . but the modern implement, with its ' tua.no wire handle, looped handles, hjtlb - neannp swivel attachment, etc, is ; never likely to be more than an event r for a very limited, number of exnerts . J fere the experts can be counted on one, buffers, and in \'<mv South WnUn, - for ovninpln. H,o s;n „,, ,„.,„ (W _ j O Htilly) has. to all intents awl ««i-

poses, been our champion thrower for twenty years. Even in America, the. j home of the modern implement, the tome mart (J. B. Mitchell) won the championship for eight, years in succession, and nine times itiVll, whikt artother (.). J. Flanagan) won it seven times, and yet another (P. J. Rvan) five times in succession. But my mam arguments against the. retention of the hammer on a championship programme are—(l) that it in an, went of considerable danger to the spectators and ofllcial.q, and (2) that many enclosures won't permit of its use. That the danger of the. leaden head 'becoming detached from the handle is realised fav the International Amateur AthleMo Federation is demonstrated by the advice given: "It i s htrongly recommended that all hammer throws, bo from a,n enclosure or case to ensure the safety of the, spectators." Then follow suggested dimensions of this cage. And presumably our A.A.A. will follow this advice and hare one built. If ground authorities would permit its use. T -would sooner hare a. r-6ll> weight throw for height or distance., or both, than a hammer throw: Imt any war. I think our clubs and associations would not be undn'.y pet turned if' l.lu> hammer throw was deleted from the championship programme.