Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-15
PREPARING FOR THE REVIVAL OF
THE ANCIENT OLYMPIC GAMES IN
LONDON-WILL ECLIPSE ALL OTHERS

of the matter would be for the eastern
and western intercollegiate meets to be
advanced one week to the last Saturday
In May. Then all the college men would
be in the best kind of shape for the
Olympic tryou,s June 6.
Another feature concerning these try
outs, which is likely to cause considerable
criticism is that no provision is made for
a. preliminary meet on the Pacific coast.
There are some splendid athletes Leyono
the Rocky mountains, the athletes from
this section being quite as good as those
of the middle west. 1t is. to say the least,
asking great deal of the Pacific coast
men to come all the way from their homes
to Chicago to try for the team In any
event they will be at DISADVANTAGE
The method of selecting this team is de-
receive IN another respect, though the
committee Will probably remedy this later
1t will be noticed that no provision has
been made for a final meet in which to
weed out the men who come through the
eastern and western preliminaries The
american team will be permitted to start
ten or dozen men in each of the track
ana held events. Thus if the committee
rules that the first six men to finish ir
each event in their respective meets he
the hnal choice for the American team
tney VIII not get the full strength of the
athletic body of this country If stands to
reason that the seventh man in a particu
lar event in the eastern meet might he a
petter performer than the third in the
t mes.' OF wee versa, and the American
team would be the loser Although the
American committee is permitted to start
at least ten men in each event it is hard
ly likely that this viii be done. because
nan a dozen men should be able to WIN
all the places that America can get In
order, therefore, to insure this conntrv
with having the strongest team that can
De mustered there should be a final mec
IN which the place winners of the pre-
iiminary meets should be brought to-
gether.
Foolish Objections to Halpin.
President James E. Sullivan of the A.
A U. and head of the American Olympic
committee. will undoubtedly be supported
III his determination to pay no heed to
the protests of those members of the
olympic team of two years who are now
Directing to the appointment of Matthew
Haipln as manager of the 1908 team
There may or may not be truth In the
charges that Halpin was unsatisfactory
as the manager of the 1906 team The
task OF taking a bunch of high-strung
athleteS TO Athens was a most arduous
one. and probably Halpin did as we'll as
al;y one could under the circumstances.
what makes these proIestS most I'M
timely now is the assumption on the part
of the disgruntled athletes that thew are
to be members of the 1908 team. Some of
these men apparently forget that they
were extremely fortunate to have been
taken with the 1906 team. But for the
fact that the team was chosen without
any trials and to the exclusion of all COL
lege men many of them would never have
made this trip. Furthermore, when a
good manv of them have to earn their
they are likely to be numbered with the
ALSO rams
1t is fortunate for America that this
meet is to be held during the summer
vacation 1t will be recalled that in 1908
the games were held in April and May
and the committee decided not to take
with the team any college men unless
they presented written sanction from
their respective faculties. On this ac-
count Lightbody of Chicago and Parsons
of Yale, were the only collegiate COMPETE
tors on the team. Next wear all this will
be changed. The meet will be held Just
when the American collegians are at their
best. and since the majority of our anna
teur records are held by the college men
the latter will be the mainstays of the
team. They will. of course, be supported
by the best of the A. A. U. men so that
the team which wears the Stars and
Stripes will be the greatest aggregation,
that ever crossed the Atlantic. and If they
do not make pretty near a clean sweep on
the other side it will OCCASION a mighty
surprise.
All of the events on the track will be
measured by the meter system. The
track events with the corresponding yard
distances are as follows:
Hundred-meter dash Q09.3 yards), 900
meter dash (21S.6 YARDS, 4OO-meter dash
(43I.2 yards) S00-meter run (s744 yards).
1900 meters fat 1895 yards), no meters
hurdle Q2o.2 yards), 400 meters hurdle
(431.2 YARDS. 5000 meters steeplechasa
g, 1918 yards). $500 meters walk (3s25
yards). The remainder of the track and
field program calls for a five-mile run.
standing broad jump, standing high jump,
running broad jump. running high jump.
hop. step and jump. pole vault, hammer
throw, shot-put, discus throw Greek and
free style). javeln throwing, three-mile
team race and ten-mile walk