THE OLYMPIC GAMES.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14233, 5 March 1914, Page 8

THE OLYMPIC GAMES.

FAILURE OF BRITISH APPEAL. A STARTLING CHARGE. LONDON, January 16. About six months ago there was a great flourish of trumpets on the .part o fthe Daily Mail and several other papers, which announced quite unequivocally that unless £IOO,OOO was raised within a few months to purchase and prepare brawn for the Olympic Games at Berlin in 1916 the British Empire would come to an end and the navy sink from sheer shame. Noblemen endorsed this statement and mothers’ meetings sobbed to . think of what was imminent. The Duke of Westminster gave £SOOO and became a member of the Olympic Council; and the public gave a few pounds under ..the conviction that every single win of the Americans and the Germans at the Olympic Games meant simply the expenditure of a definite sum of money in preparation. But the public gave very few pounds; and by and bye the . council announced that unless they had. ,£25,000 subscribed by the end of the year it would be useless to go further. Enthusiasm was evidently almost dead. Now it is quite dead. It was buried, this morning. The Special Committee has issued a statement showing that only £IO,OOO has been subscribed or promised to date, a sum “entirely inadequate to finance any satisfactory scheme, and consequently it has resigned with dignity intact. To fulfil all that was threatened under the absurd ferment into which the press worked itself at the time it would be necessary for the Bank of England to stop payment forthwith and for St. Paul’s to be turned into 'i picture palace. ' ■ But we are a resourceful people, and therefore we listen calmly and receptively to an alternative scheme put forward by Mr A. 8... George. Mr George has a right to speak. He has had over 25 years experience of athletics jn Canada, South Africa, England, the United States, and Sweden. He is an Englishman; and it was he who organised the meeting under Lord Desborough’s chairmanship, which last August discussed the lessons of the games at Stockholm. What he proposes is .simply the rather startling expedient of defeating our enemies by our own personal efforts and personal conduct and not relying entirely upon money . The charge Mr George makes against the British Olympic athletes is too serious to be given except in his own words. He says: “In what way did this country suffer most through the Stockholm Olympic Games? The answer undoubtedly is; Our loss of prestige as a. sporting nation in consequence of the untrue charges against some of our rivals and the American athletes in particular. Then there was the slovenly appearance of our representatives during the -parade of nations at the formal opening of the games, in contrast to the smart and martial bearing of moat of the other nations' athletes. “Furthermore, the uncouth and ill-man-nered conduct of some of our representatives, particularly in , the dining hall of the public building where meals were mostly taken, created much unfavourable comment amongst foreigners, many of whom look on England as the home of good manners. There is no need for a £IOO,OOO fund to remedy the faults named, and they are far more important than the failure of our athletes to win the greatest number of victories. .... It will be a_jjational disgrace if wo have the same trpbule in 19X6. “It must be confessed that the athletic relationship between England and the United States,, has not been improved by the games. There are faults on both sides. Sportsmen cannot forget the deliberate case of impeding by an American' athlete in .the final of the 400 metres race at the 1908 carnival. Our hands were not clean, however, and the want of tact and the action of certain officials during the London games gave the Americans just cause to feel offended. “The trouble and ill-feeling over the Stocholm games was entirely of our own making. Several charges of foul tactics were levelled against American athletes, but without the slightest foundation. It is true that prominent English competitors, including Mr P. J. Baker, of Cambridge University, publicly testified to the unfairness of the charges and to the honesty of the Americans, but far greater prominence was given to the attacks than to the statements of fact.” Mr George advises that care should he taxen only to elect men to represent England who would be creditable both in prowess and in personal conduct; to give a committee power to put offenders off the team; to have an official report on fairness of the games; and to drill the competitors sufficiently to make a decent appearance on the parade. “Par better,” he says, “lose every event on the programme than forfeit our reputation as a nation of . sportsmen, which has sadly suffered of late years, America in particular having cause to consider us very bad losers.’ 1