The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-07-29
Held at the Great Franco Brit.
ish Exhibition in London.
STADIUM HELD 10000.
A Plot of 200 Acres Within 90
Minutes of L0ndOn's Heart.
Finer Than the Coliseum at
Rome or the Athens Stadium.


British exhibition at Shepherds Bush.
where the Olympic games from July
13 to rs have been held, ia a beautiful
spot.
Inaugurated by the Prince and
Princess of Wales. and visited by the
king and queen in company with the
president of the French Republic, the
great Franco British exhibition at
Shepherds Bush commenced under
auspices that are thoroughly well war
ranted by its magnitude and magni-
f1cence. The great exhibition Of 1851
In Hyde Park-the pioneer of all ex-
hfbitions-cannot be compared with
that or 1908, either in regard to size
or Importance: and, although the dis
play Is limited to the commerce, in
dustries, and arts of two nations, those
two nations are SO powerful and their
colonies are SO vast that their products
form collection which has never
been equalled in any quarter of the
world. .-s.,, ~,
The difficulty of finding q suitable
site for the exhibition was readily
solved by the selection of a tract Of
land. nearly 20 acres in extent, at
Shepherds Bush, on of the most suit
able parts Of London. Within twenty
minutes of the heart Of the city, and
residential and shopping areas,
Shepherds Bush Is easily reached
from every part of the metropolis. The
exhibition continues until October.
A special feature of the exhibition
was the Olympic games which were
the purpose, and capable of comfort
ably seating 10000 people and ac-
eommodating on occasions 10000,
and all the sports could be easily seen
by everyone present. The Olympic
games were the sight of lifetime, for
generations may pass away before
they are again held In Great Britain.
Over twenty countries were represent
ed. and every effort was made to make
this the greatest athletic concourse
that has ever assembled. The Prince
of Wales presented a challenge cup;
another, modelled from the finest
Greek vase In existence, was given by
British fencers; others again were Of
fered for competition by the Count
Brunette d'Usseaux, by the Greek
committee and by the Nottingham
club. These will all be competed for
at every game held in the official cycle
for. four years.
A prominent British writer speaking
of the origin of the Olympic games
says in part:
Other countries have had in the
past, and will have in the future. a
much longer period for preparation.
But London is taking the place pre-
viously allotted to Rome; and this was
only arranged when the Italian rep
resentatives approached the president
of the British Council in Athens,
where I was present during the athle-
tic gathering of April and May, 1906.
That gathering was called 1.-THE Olym-
pic Games" by the Greeks, who have
perhaps the best right of anyone to
the title. But the series of games
which has the technical precedence to
that name, owing to the revival of the
ancient ideals Of Ellis by Baron Pierre
de Coubertin, began in Athens in 1895.
and was continued in Paris in 1900,
and in st. Louis in 1904. This is the
cycle of which the games of. 1908 in
London form part. Athens, having
| had magnificent white marble stad-
| ium built for her by the munif1cence
of private citizen in 1896, very nat
| urally determined to make use Of it,
by holding games there In different
cycle of four years from 1905. on
wards, to 1910, and SO forth. Until
railway communication is improved it
may be awkward for nations engag-
| ed in the original cycle of 1908, 1912.
! 1916. etc, to intercalate the Athenian
gatherings Of 1910. 1914, etc, and it
may be difficult for any country, ex-
cept the United States, to bear the ex-
pense involved by sending picked
| teams of representative athletes some
| way from home at such short inter-
walls. Still, every lover either Of sport
or of Hellenic traditions will rejoice
that the Greek nation has given EVIL
| dence of so great and lasting an i'm
pulse towards the athletic enthusiasm
in which she first showed the world
the way; and the annual (and more
strictly locaD gatherings held in the
Athenian stadium will no doubt con-
tribute as much as the quadrennial
! meetings in the same place to revivify
and maintain the physical standards
of the modern Greek race.
| The size of London's Olympic arena
will convey. as perhaps no other meth.
| cd could, the gigantic preparations thai
have been necessitated by the entry OF
| % different nations, and rather more
than 1000 representative athletes.
| was present at Athens in 1906. wher
| the games provided a sight of extraor'
binary interest. But the London meet
ing was far more impressive as wei
by the quality as by the quantity Of
the picked performers Of the worlt
present. Nor Is the arena that hal
risen so swiftly in the past few months
| unworthy of so notable a gathering
The length of the turf inside Its run
ming track is greater than the exter
nal long diameter of the Coliseum a
Rome, for 1t Is 2S5 yards from one enc
of the grass to the other. and thu
breadth of this grass, just under 10
yards, is as large as the external meas
urement across the marble Stadium II
Athens. This means that the curves
which have been carefully laid out un
der the supervision Of the A. A. A.
are most delicately calculated to enabl
runner to get round corner at full
speed, and the track itself is perfect
A banked cycle track of smooth ce
ment surrounds the running path. Out
side that is broad passage for tn
circulation of the public. entirely en-
4 circling the arena. The royal box i
opposite the swimming pond. a vas
construction of concrete, 109 yards lon
by 30 feet wide. with a depth of !
feet in the middle for high diving.
It is not likely that the men VIII