The sun., 1908-04-26
IF LONGBOiT, THr NOT SHRU BB?
Question Raised In England on the Indians
Entry for Olympic Marathon.

To Judge by the English sporting pa apers
to hand there Ia not much chance OF Tom
Iongboat, the Indian distance runner ever
appearing in the Marathon race at the Olym-
pic Games ncXt July. II appears his case
is under investigation Just now, and the
EngliShmen will have TO satisfy themselves
that he is an amateur before his name IA al
lowed 10 go on the programme. They say
they only want 10 bcst amateurs, not the
best professionals, and II I.ongboat is per-
mtted to run so should Shrubb be- Tho latest
issue Of Sporting Life received here has this
60 say on lhe case under the head Of The
The letters id last Thursdays Spor,ias
Lite from J. J, Dixon, secretary Of the Amer-
can A. I d, and J II King are sufficient to show
that the Longboat bother Is far from over
yet SO far as England is concerned tie mat
ter may well be left for future consideration,
The question as TO the Indians status Is
bound to be raised and II Will be Investigated
by dn unpreiudiced body. and for that reason
] did not think II necessary 10 refer 10 the
letter which came across from MIR Bobby
Winston some time hnck, as that gentle
man clearly misunderstood the conditions
OF the Olympic contests. They are for ANA
teurs only and are not promoted with view
to allowing the London public 10 see the
greatest runners OF the age, but only the
greatest amateur runners. II we wanted
TO lind the greatest distance athlete Of this
or any other age We need only go 10 Hayward 3
Heath and dir up our old friend Shrubb. who
would be only too delighted TO tackle Long
boat or anybody else.
But should the objections I o the Indians
status prove fatal there will he no more injUs-
tico 20 the athlete himself or 20 Canada In
debarrng him from an amateur competition
than there il in preventing Shrubb from run
ming for England. No performance that has
ever been recorded by Iongboat under proper
conditions Is likely TO strike fear into British
athletes; we shall, In fact, hope that his status
may be satisfactorily settled, so that the Ca
nadans may appreciate the worth Of our own
CTosS-cOuntry men at distance work, When
July comes round there will be none OF that
second class representation which has been
our lot In previous games, The world will
have 10 meet our best and that will be a new
experience. Many Of the cracks on the other
side are known here. and ere they left our
while among our own men the development
Of late years has been very marked So we
say, Let EN- all come and try To take our
number down. And II any are ruled out as
having contravened the conditions laid down
in the entry form they can give the public
a chance of seeing them In another sphere
while We have A, Shrubb and A. b. Postle on
this side Of the water"
The above comment was shown TO James Y.
Sullivan Of the A. A. Y. YESTERDAY and he said:
As far a. the A. A. u. Is concerned the Long.
for good and all. The question OF his entry In
English Marathon will be settled by the British
Olympic Council and the Ems glsh A. A, A. AG
they see A. and We shs abide by their de.
CisiOn. We are going odo nothing that would
for a moment detraCt from the succe sS Of the
games, but on the contrary will render all pos
sble help TO the fixture.