The morning journal-courier., 1907-12-27
TANKS ARE FEARED Middle Distance Men Will Force Respect from the
 Foreigners.
AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES
Cinder Track Stars, Taylor, Lightbody, Sheppard and Glarner, Sure
 to Take Honors.

When the athletes of the world con- gregate at London England, for the Olympic games next July, the Ameri- cans will for the first time in the his tory of international athletics, be re- garded in the light of favorites in the middle distance runs.
 At all the previous meets where our runners have met the crack Britons in the quarter, half and mile, Ameri- ca's chances have been long ones at the best, but next summer if the Yankees full strength can be presented at Lon- don, it will be a different tale and in- stead of ranking as outsiders, the men who wear the stars and stripes will be reckoned as most dangerous of all among the worlds mile distancers.
 John Taylor the fleet Negro. will be this country's hopeein the quarter mile. The only bar to Taylor's success in the London meet is lack of condition. If he arrives in London early enough to be thoroughly accustomed to the cli- mate there is hardly doubt that the great ebony flyer will be the one to burst the tape in the 400!meter race. To realize the truth of this assertion it is only necessary to recall that Tay- Tor is only about five yards slower t than the peerless Maxey Long. He is quarter miller such as is found in athletics about once in ten years, and to beat him on the big one-third of a mile track at Shepard's Bush will take R 400 performance such as the athletic world has not seen since Long's record ht Guttenburg.
 Coming to the half mile, the Stars and Stripes will no doubt b9 carried by Sheppard, Glarner and Sheehan. What trio this isl Since his early career Sheppard has never suffered a half- mile defeat, and 1t is hard to see how the Britons and Swedes will be able to turn the trick next summer. Like Tay- Tor, Sheppard in his true form is about lHs unbeatable as a human runner can be- and this is attested to by his per formance.of 1;5S S-5 at Travers Island 8 year ago.
 In case Sheppard should fail, what about Andrew Glarner of San Fran cisco and Frank Sheehan of Boston? Glarner is a consistent 1:56 man, and has proven that he might do better in a pinch. Sheehan won the junior title on the poor Jamestown exposition track last summer in.1:56 2-5. The Bos- ton lad led all the way and won easily, | and Melvin Sheppard himself is au- thority for the statement that Sheehan will be yards faster next summer.
 Look at Afnerica's milers. Lightbody, | the two-nlile 1.50O meter worlds cham pion; Haskins, who ran in 4.2O last spring; Sullivan the rejuvenated LA. 1 A. c. runner, who has done 4:23; Coe of Michigan and Lewis of Cornell, both 4;28 men, and Fred Rodgers of the | New York IA. O.. who has a, 4:23 race to his credit also. Of this string the most likely appear to be Lightbody and Haskins.l Lighthody is wonderful runner,
 When in condition he has never been pushed in a mile race, and proved on the trip to Athens that he can travel bit, too, without losing his running form. Haskins, though he has won derful mile to his credit, has hardly been as consistent as Lightbody, but If he is in shape to run one of his great races at London, something will drop.