Oxygen for Athletes.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLI, Issue 15, 7 October 1908, Page 36

Oxygen for Athletes.

The use of oxygen promises to produce some remarkable developments in the world of athletics, especially in connection with those events in which “the breath is the thing,” as, for instance, running. As everyone knows, athletes, however well trained, often find themselves very distressed during and after a race, as witness the instance of Dorando and several others who covered the Marathon course in the recent Olympic games. For some time past a number of eminent physiologists have been investigating the causes of dyspnoea, or hard breathing, and experiments which have been made with oxygen have brought about some very remarkable results. Mr Leonard Hill, of the London Hospital, who is Well known in connection with his experiments in regard to high pressure in diving, has taken the matter up. With the assistance of Mr Flack, his demonstrator, and Mr Just, a noted runner

who is « medical student, he has carried through some valuable tests. Mr Hill has made public some interesting details of his experiments, and their results. He said that he had found that a man could hold his breath for very long periods if he washed his lungs out with a few breaths 1 of oxygen. There were two reasons why one could not hold the breath for long, the first being because oxygen was needed, and the second because the carbon dio*xide produced in the blood collected and excited the breathing centre of the brain. If, however, this* were cleared out, the breath eould be held for a much longer period. Dr. Vernon, of Oxford, proved this when, having breathed hard for five minutes, and then taken some breaths of pure oxygen, he was able to hold his breath for eight minutes and a-half, or nearly four times longer than the stay of the famous professional Beaumont, who. in December, 1893, at the Alhambra. Melbourne, remained under the water 4min, 35 J see. Mr Hill believes that by getting runners and other athletes to inhale oxygen just before starting their races, they will be able to hold their breaths for a much longer period. Mr Hill would have liked to have made the test with some of the Olympic competitors during the games, but was unable to do so, and so, with Mr Just’s assistance, he carried them out at Stamford Bridge on Monday last. The results achieved were very remarkable. A satisfactory feature also was that, at the conclusion, the athletes showed none of those signs of distress which often follow violent efforts, but were extraordinarily fresh and lively. Mr Holding, the Oxford “Blue,” breathed the oxygen for two minutes, and then ran a quartermile in 50 l-ssec., which was a second faster than his previous best, whereas in the Olympic trials he took 52sec. He had been out of training for a week, but after the race he was so fresh that he paced Just, and then ran 100 yards in 11 see. Mr Just afterwards inhaled oxygen, and then covered the half-mile in Inrin. 55 l-ssec, thus reducing his time in the Inter-’Varsity race by 3-ssec. So fit was he at the elose, that he ran a quarter-mile in 53 3-ssee. and also paced another runner for two sprints of 100 yards each, and came in first. These remarkable results convinced Mr Hill that there were great

reeord-breaking possibilities open to athletes who used oxygen in the near future. It is perhaps just as well that Mr Hill eould not work his sweet will on Olympic competitors. The “yelow press” of the States has been hard put to it to find printable language bad enough to express its opinion of English sportsmen, but if they had been given a chance of flinging charges of doping at us !