Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-06-06

l,DN 81. va ri
100-meter hurdles ........,...120.2 yarls
400-meter hurdles ............4a7.2 yardi
3,20O-meter steeplechase ....34sT6 yards
Ffve-mlle run ..........s0il kiumetera
| Ten-inile walk ............1B kilometers
Marathon race (26 miles, 40 kllometers
! Three-mile team race. las kilometers
3.500-mcter walk .......,..... $3.50 yards
Americas track and field athletes will
have the fight OF their lives this sum
mer to maintain their supremacy IN
this particular sport when the team
representing the Stars and Stripes en-
cages in the Olympic games at London.
1t Is true enough that America has
won all four OF the revived Olympic
meets which have been held to date
and by big margins, but in none Of
them was the competition one-half as
fierce as 1t will be this year. Great
Britain. knowing the great strength Of
the American team, has been prepaI-
ing for this meet for two years, and
by combining England, Ireland, Scot
land and Wales into one team. hopes TO
get revenge for previous humiliations.
A DUAL MEET.
While all the countries of the world
viii figure more or less, the actual fight
VIII reduce itself to Il Titanic struggle
between the athletes of the United
States and England. Apparently the one
thing that rankles in the breasts of the
English athletic rulers is the fact that
In nearly every previous meet between
the two countries the American has
been too much for the Briton, and no
country likes to be habitually beaten
Some American enthusiasts are in
clined to think that In view of previous,
meetings we should have no trouble In
soundly beating the British. They ar
que that our straight run Of victories
In the Olympic meets of the past prove
that we are invincible. but they should
remember that at Athens In 1896 and
1906. at Paris in 1900 and st. Louis
in 1904 England did not have her fun
strengthened even half OF 1t. This time
the meet is held on English soil. the
Britons have the advantage OF their
own climate and we the very greatest
disadvantage of having to become ac-
climated, handicap that no one fully
understands unless he has had to ex-
perience It. So although the signs point
to an American victory II Is by no
means the sinecure that some people
think.
AMERICA is STRONG.
While we may look for the stiffest
kind of opposition from England be
cause OF the finely worked-out plans
for strengthening the British team
John Bull may also expect merfler
battle from the we9rers of the stars
and Stripes than ever before. Ii pos
sible the American committee Is going
the English body one better in the thor
oughness with which it is building up
plans for its team. In spite OF the fact
that we have won all the Olympic
meets to date the 1908 team should he
fully 80 per cent stronger than any OF
It's predecessors For the first time there
Is in charge of the team n central COM
mittee. whose business 1t Is to get OUT
and on the team the full strength OF
this country.
In 1896 only II small body of Amerl-
can athletes went to Athens, and In
1900 at Paris, although we had II much
larger representation, II consisted In
the main Of college teams not working
together. In 1904 when the meet WAS
held AT ST. Louis. the American COM
petltors We're limited almost entirely
to the club athletes, there being only
scattering of the college champions.
There was very little Improvement in
conditions al Athens In 1906. This time
the spring dates and n ruling of Che
committee in charge made 1t absolutely
Impossible for the undergraduate col
lege athletes to compete. Consequent-
ly the very cream Of Americas ath-
letes We're kept off the team. This COM
dition. however, was the fault of no ono
In America.