The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-14

looking on a rule was passed, 10 prevent
a recurrence Of the crime, that the spec
tators must appear with their persons
for the most part nude. On the other
hand, women were allowed TO enter for
the driving contests, where the prize was
given not to the human performer but
to the horses, and on more than n
occasion, beginning with the triumph of
a sister Of the King OF Sparta, a woman
drove the winners. In the modern Olym-
pads there is no veto against female
spectators, Of course, or against female
contestants in any event, while In some
in archery, for instance-special subdi-
visions are reserved to them.
One Of the regulations appended to the
modern Olympic programme runs: The
games are exclusively confined to anna
tours" There was no such restriction
in Greece. The driving contests in
volved so great an outlay that they were
virtually confined TO members Of noble
families, but in the other events the COM
p~etitors seem to have been on the whole
something like what we should call pro-
fessionals. The training was so long
ten months At least-and so rigorous
that it could hardly be undertaken as an
amusement, and its victims were in all
probability subsidized by their native
towns. We hear Of the better families
refusing to pit themselves against these
highly trained specialists.
The winnowing Of the ancient COM
p~etitors was Of a different kind. Before
their entries we're accepted they had to
prove their ability before a jury, who
turned them down unless their speed or
strength came up to a fixed standard.
In distinguishing amateurs" from
PROFESSIONAL among the a%ncients we
are merely speaking analogously. The
distinction did not exist then in its
present sense, and this suggests that
England is for n reason a specially
appropriate place to hold the modern
games in. For IL wa in England that
this distinction was created and also that
athletic contests as we understand them
came into existence.
These contests are so popular and well
established nowadays that we are apt to
forget their extreme youthfulness. In
reality they have been in vogue for hardly
more than half a century. The very
expression athletic sports is no older
in the modern world. Up TO 1880 or so
foot racing and jumping contests were
termed pedestrian the competitors
pedestrians" and the whole pursuit
Professionalism" All prizes were in
money; the professional came earlier
than the amateur" Gradually those
who ran for the sake OF the stakes were
joined by others who ran for love of the
sport. As the latter kind increased in
numbers they began to separate them
selves. though at first all were mixed.
The pure sport lovers developed a
fastidiousness about accepting money
prizes or competing with those who
did, and the result was a division into
pedestrians and athletes, the latter
term being thus in the first instance a
synonym for amateurs" Hence arose
that definition, about 1850, which has
sometimes struck the present age as
supercilious: An amateur is any person
who has never competed in an open con-
test or for public money or admission
money, nor has ever at any period OF his
life taught or assisted in pursuit of ath-
letic exercise as a means Of livelihood,
nor is a mechanic, artisan or laborer."
The birthplace of athletic sports, so
defned-and they are so defined in the
modern Olympic games-wss the great
English schools, Rugby, Eton, &C., and
the English universities and military
colleges; and the forms of many of the
modern events, such as the hurdle race,
which was evolved from the Rugby
steeplechases, had their origin from the
same source. From the middle Of the
last century onward the development
Of the institution was so extraordinarily
rapid that both in the United Kingdom
and this country it had assumed national
proportions by 1870.
The modern Olympiads have started
by being cosmopolitan. The ancient
ended 80. After a duration Of a thou
sand years the institution, which was
originally exclusively Hellenic but was
afterward broken in upon by the Mace
domains and then by the Romans, showed
an Armenian as it's last recorded prize
winner. Before it was suppressed it had
undoubtedly become the most potent
international mixer Of antiquity, and
its performances were always accom-
panied by a truce. 1t is interesting to
note that the place at which the present
OLYMPIC programme has been finally for
mulated is The Hague, where the inter-
national council met.