Albuquerque citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1907-1909, 1908-07-17
AMERICANS PROTEST
IN THE IUe-OF F-WAR
Claim British Team Wore Spec
tally Prepared Shoes Which Gave
Them Big Advantage Amer
leans Go In for Prizes In
Field Events Only.

London, July 17.-American ath-
letes are thoroughly disguised with
the treatment accorded them by off,
cials of the Olympic games. The Sc
crecy with which drawing for the
track events were made and the re-
sulting system whereby the American
best runners were put in the same
heat was bad enough. they say. but
now the unfairness of the tug-of-war
today has disheartened the American
contestants. The amateur athletic as
sociation had refused to allow the
pole vaulters to dig a hole for their
poles, although the Americans claim
this practice was allowed in all pre-
vious revivals of the Olympic games.
The great event of the early after
noon was the final of the ten-mle
walk. In this G. e. Larner of the
United Kingdom broke his record by
doing nine miles in one hour. min
utes, "a 4-5 seconds, and the ten miles
in one hour, 10 minutes, 81 2-5 sec
onds. The latter record is nearly two
minutes inside the previous amateur
record. X. j. Webb, of the United
Kingdom, who was second, cut off
seven seconds from the previous rec
ord. The rest of the field was out
cia.ssed. ..~
London, July 1.-THE British
Olympic association has concluded
not to decide the championship of
nations competing in the Olympic
games held in London this year, and
the same decision applies to the
sports now going on at Shepards
Bush.
The original idea was to offer tro-
ply for the country securing the
greatest number of points in all
games, those held at the stadium and
those played at the various clubs.
such as tennis at the Queens club,
which was won by Jay Gould, and the
rifle matches at Bisley. The difficulty
of arriving at an equitable method
of alloting points, however, was so
great that the matter has been final
ly dropped. The association tried, to
work out other schemes for deciding
the championship of nations, but
found that fairness 10 all was quite
impossible. so the association has
decided not TO offer a trophy of any
kind except the gold and silver and
biohHt HlSudlS III tdCu COM npellblOn.
Captain w. Jones, assistant secre-
tary of the association, gave out this
information, concluding his statement
as follows:
''The newspapers of the different
countries will have to decide the mat
ter TO their own satisfaction. Amer
lea, probably more than any other
nation, would have cause for COM
plant If We attempted to award the
championship. The distance to The
United States is so great. and we did
not expect the Americans to have so
many entries as the United Kingdom.
In some events America is not repre-
sented. Therefore, If points were
awarded for every event the United
Kingdom would have a Walkover."
The Americans competing in the
stadium games are simply going in
for the championships in field events,
and they are counting their points by
the American method, five for firsts,
three for seconds and one for thirds.
Wherefore, there are three events on
this mornings program, the individ-
ual sabre compe ition and two arch
cry contests
The weather was rainy and the at
tendance even smaller than yester-
day.
America has protested the tug of
war. Greece and Germany retired
ana The first pull was between the
American team and the second team
OF the United Kingdom. The protest
was on the ground that the British
team. contrary to regulations, wore
prepared shoes
The American team lost the first
pull II had two more pulls, condi-
tions being the best two out Of three, !
but I'm view Of the protest it decided !
to retire.
The English team wore immense |
shoes. which, under no circumstances. |
would be used for ordinary purposes. |
In addition, the heels OF the shoes |
Were encased i'm steel which sank |
into the turf
The Americans are disgusted at |
their treatment. The rules say dis
tinctly that no competitor shall wear
prepared boots or shoes, or boots or
shoes with projecting nails. tips,
points, springs or hollows OF any
kind, and that no competitor shall
make a hole in the ground. Notwith-
standing this the American protest
3 Ill Il