The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-05-14
OLYMPIAN TEAMS
WERE BELOW PAR
Had College Men Entered
America Would Have Made
Better Showing.
BY Edward Bushnell.


Philadelphia, May l4.-Altho the track team
representing the United States swept everything
before 1t at the Olympic games In Athens one
week ago, analysis Of the records made shows
that in only two events were new figures es-
tablished In all Of the other events the per-
formances We're either very mediocre Or unm1s-
takably poor. Attention was called recently by
| the writer to the mediocre quality of the Amer
lean team, at least mediocre IN comparison 10 tne
| team that America could have sent had the
games been held in the summer months or IN
this country when the college athletes could
have competed. A--
| The clean sweep of the American team was
due in large measure to the weakness OF
| the opposing teams Great Britain had no good
athletes outside of McGough, Crabbe, Hawtreg
and O'Connor, while the teams from Greece,
laughed at in this country. \
| The only records to be broken at Athens We're
those for the discus throw and the Marathon
race neither of which Is q standard event In
America The discus record broken by
Martin Sheridan and the new hgures 1or the
Marathon race were set up by Sherring, a
Canadian.
America has now won all four Olympic meets,
and from present indications will practically CON
tinue to do for years to e come Inc mrsa
+ games held in Athens IN 1ese We're e. .a Postor
+ by an American team sent out by me sos aet
. A. A., composed largely of former Harvard anu
r Princeton athletes. An even cleaner sweep was
made by the wearers of the stars and stripes
S at the Olympic sports held In connection VIII
the Paris exposition in 1900. The thlro resl'a q.
y of the Hellenic sports was held at ST. LOUIS II
e 1904 and here, too. the Americans captured
d nearly every event on the program 1t snouie
he said however that there were very rev LOT
eign teams entered and those VINO ola coiiie "ei'
" | too mediocre to win much
Even at St. Louis America was poorly repre-
. sented. hardly any OF the eastern coiiege an
e letes taking part, most OF the competl'ioh Nc
q ing limited to eastern club athletes and IN
l. western college men. If the United STATE
), could once muster team made up OF the pes
}; man available from all quarters 1t would s"ee
J. everything before it with rush.
!. Tcr some unexplained reason the Greek com
mittee in charge of the 1906 games lett OF
!. the program several events that We're stanoar
at Paris and st. Louis. These included IN
ir 6O-meter dash, the 200-meter dash. the /'oW
is meter steeplechase the 200 and 4Oo-meter hurdl
It. races and the hammer throw. They also adde
u the fve-mile run, which had never ne1ore pee
"a contested. If the events omitted mao pesh p.
= on the program the American Victor! "ouiu ha'
I'd been more emphatic than 1t was. !,
iu The following table, published here Tor II
tn first time, presents the Olympic recorunoiueis
re date: a Hahn Tn
ot ssixty.meter Dash-Kraenzein ana Haan H,i 81
ut versits Of Pennsylvania and University OF Mich
Id sa 100 meter Dash-Jarvis, Princeton, 10 40 Sc
les onds. ,,,o,,oo, o1a.5 Sc
nd onds. 1,,,,n,.n New York Athlet
cls zoo meter s RsunWLghtbody, Chicago universit
m h0ome TO sg RunUIdghtbody Chicago unive
sity, 4 minutes 8 4.6 seconds: or+or 1ntve
=, - h00-meter Steeplechase Run-orton, ehi'e
In s,tr ~ Pennsvlyania. minutes "a seconds.
Five-mile Run-Hawtrey, England 20 I'LL
u' Marathon Run-sherring, Canada, hours
Sk MINUTES 11n.meter Hurdies"Kraenzlen University
10 2s New York
! letic club, "a 3-5 seconds. ,,,,
IS: meter HuEdlesETswbsssbury' Universe
,ol. letic club, II feet AZ inches. vou,.
Standing High Jump-Ewry, New Aork
Running Broad Jump-Prinstein, Syracuse,
feet 1 inch. ,,.
For Pennsylvania, feet IS inches
Hop, Skip, Jump-Prinstein' syracuse
Pole vault-Dvorak of Michigan and Con
aps of France, ii feet 6 inches: y.
OF, Of Discus Throw. Sheridan. Irish.American A
leir letic club, 1876 feet inches.
nch *Hammer Throw-Flanagan, Irish Ameri
Athletic club, 1888 feet inch.
ana Shot Put-Rose, Michigan, As feet inch
u a aNot contested this year.
eA' The foregoing table shows some remarka
' ths facts. Of the twenty-one events which n
a ,te be regarded as standard the records in all
Civ eight are held by college men. And of tn
ling which are held by outsiders it should be
lin that the Marathon run. the standing broad
red high Jumps as we'll the fve-mile rum
ever not practiced by college men, for If they W
AVIS it is fair to assume that the collegians wo
of hold the records in them also. 1t is pre-
r a much an accident that Hilman holds the Z
meter hurdle record, because sat Paris Kra
len made no effort to set a mark. But
- latter's time for the 220-yard hurdles is
=. second faster than Hillman's time for
meters. a distance several yards shorter t
22O yards.
Most of the Olympic records establis
either at Paris in 1900 at st. Louis in 1!
non Those which were made at Paris were far II
In a. creditable than those at St. Louis owing to
de- difference in the conditions of competition.
e Of Paris track was merely course laid out
the public park the Bots de Boulogne, and
filed with mud puddles and otherwise al
. as bad a track could be selected. At
,,se Louis and Athens the athletes had the adj
ame tage of specially prepared cinder path.
here Of the foregoing records eight were establis
not at in 1900 and ten at ST. Louis In i
'ings The others were made at Athens this year, Z
'arE5 Including the fve-mile run contested this
euan for the first time. -..
oon. The following table shows at a glance
Rat the records made at the four different rene'
Al of the Olympic games in 1896. 1900, 1904
Nc 1906 compare:
1S9