The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-03-13
ANCIENT ATHLETICS.
Those Of the Present and the Past
Compared.
We ARE SURELY ON THE UP GRADE
Every Branch of Athletics, with the Exception
of Archery, Shows that We Are Bet
ter Than Our Ancestors.

attreticism Of all descriptions at the present
time is the continued cutting of records"
Does this indicate that the men of the pres
emit day are vastly superior in physical power
to those Of the past?
Taking the modern past first into considera-
ton in the majority Of cases it certainly does
not, says The Nineteenth Century, the in
creased result of their exertions being IN
great measure due to the improvements of the
machines they use This, however, is not
always so, for, although in rowing, shooting,
bicycling, ETC., it may be- it can hardly be
altogether so in running, cricket, jumping,
etc., though even in these cases, to a certain
extent, it is, as the Improvement in the con-
dition of tho ground where the contests take
place has something to do with the greater
performances now accomplished.
PERFORMANCES OF THE ANCIENrs.
With reference to the ancientS, we know
very little of the real performances of their
athletes. 1t is only worry occasionally that
any of the classical historians relate details,
alKl some of those are obviously incorrect.
Fof instance, it is recorded that the Grecian
Phayllos, with the aid Of "halteereS," leaped
a distance of So feet. "Halteeres" were some
thing similar to our dumb bells, which the
Greeks held in their hands while leaping.
They put their arms back, ard, swinging
them forward with a sudden motion, took the
leap. There is no doubt their use enabled
them to jump further than they could have
done without them. This has been proved by
experience, % feet inches having been COW
cred in 1854 by an athlete with weights in his
hands, whereas the record" for the long
jump at the annual Inter University sports
is only % feet lO15 inches, which was made in
1874, and the longest distance ever known to
have been jumped without the aid of weights
is the record Of % feet inches, made in
THE INCREASE IN RESULTS
No matter to what branch of athletics one
looks, with a single exception to which l will
refer later on, the same increase in results is
found as that described in bicycling In run
ming at nearly every distance have records"
been recently cut" the same with rowing,
swimming. cricket, etc
How is this to be accounted for2 Training,
no doubt, has something to do with it. The
system of diet and work which tends most to
develop mans muscular powers is far bet
ter understood now THAI it was in the past,
and the quite recent past, too; but there is a
great deal yet to bo learned, and there is too
much tendency even now to respect tradi-
tional ideas that have nothing but their age
to recommend them.
We know very little with certainty of the
mode of training that the ancients resorted
to-less, if possible, than we do Of their per-
formances. Many of the Grecian athletes in
training did not eat meat, but principally
lived on fresh cheese and dried figs and wheat
0Ehers consumed large quantities of pork and
Deef, and one, a Theban, who lived upon
goats flesh, became SO strong that he was
enabled to overcome ell the athletes of his
time. Tho idea Of eating half raw meat,
which was more particularly held by the
Romans, dies very hard, but is now almost
exploded, together with that by which men
in training were keptin state ofraging thirst
BOAT RACING.
\ The whole system of boat racing has under
gone change during the present century.
As late as 1924 the mode of starting the boats
for the college races ct Oxford was to shut
them up in Ifiey lock, and, ION the signal
being given, the lock gates were opened and
the boats scrambled out as best they could.
The usual method was for tho stroke oar to
stand at the bows with boat hook, and,
when the gates were opened, to run down the
middle of the boat on plank or gangway,
those on the other, jump into his seat and be-
gin to row; or else the stroke would push the
boat out with his hands, going down the side
Of the boat just inside the gunwale, in which
case the crew sat with their oars tossed"
Then they raced up the river to the barge
that marked the end of the course
SHOOTING.
In shooting, we find that the score which |
was good enough to win the Queens prize |
when the National Rife association first es-
tabl;shed their meeting at Wimbledon is now
of no value at all. This is caused to great |
extent by the Improvement of the rife, but |
the main reason the knowledge that has come
from practice.
WALKING.
,
mile in eight minutes was considered to be |
able to do q very fair performance; but now,
unless no could cover the distance in consid
erably under seven minutes, he would have
no chance whatever of winning any prize at |
any athletic meeting Many of the last gen
Grafton of walkers object to the present style
in which it is accomplished, on the ground
that it is really disguised form of running |
But it is not so in all cases; and there are
many scrupulously fair walkers who can
hopelessly beat most times made a quarter
of a century ago, even if they cannot equal
those made by the semi-runners of the pres
ent day.
When we come to consider feats Of strength |
end agility, and to compare as far as possible
those performed now and in earlier times the
advantage seems to lie with the moderrs
There are really no definite accounts of what
the ancient Greeks and Romans were able to
do. There are many mythical ones, and even
when there are any that may possibly be
statements of facts, there is nothing to gauge
what they may be really worth. We have
little more knowledge of what was done in
the middle ages, but not much. For in
stance, King Teutobach of the Teutons is
aslid to have vaulted over six horses standing
side by side.
TIE ONE EXCEPTION.