The Washington herald., 1912-07-16
Fifth Olympiad Closes;
Glory for United States
James Thorpe Wins Decathlon,
and America Lands the
1,60O-Meter Event.
FIVE STRAIGHT VICTORIES
BY MICHAEL ). MURPHY.
'raincr American Olympic Team.

StocknoiHl, July 1S.-lnc renewal OF
the fifth Olympiad came to a close this
afternoon in blaze of glory for the
Americans. The team representing "Old
Glory captured the international games
with scores to spare and made it FIVE
straight Olympiads.
The feature of the afternoons events
was the winning of the decathlon by
James Thorpe, "a real American
Thorpe IS. an American Indian and
wears the colors of the Carlisle Indian
School. Thorpe had previously won the
pentathlon, and when he swept the
Star Spangled Banner" to victory again
the great stadium rang with cheers.
We finished the athletic section of the
Olympic games to-day with all the vic
tories that + expected We won the
Iyooo-meter relay with little opposition.
and Thorpe, the wonderful all-around
athlete from Carlisle Indian School.
set record in the decathlon which will
not be equaled in a long while.
SwEDES ARE FAIR.
I am exceptionally well pleased that
Sweden won the two events We lost to-
day. The Swedes certainly must be
commended for the admirable spirit and
courage that they have shown through
out the meet as well as the unquestion-
able fairness they have displayed In
every attitude. While Sweden has not
made as fine a showing in first places
as has the United States / am sure she
could beat any otner country in Europe
in dual meet. Nowhere in the world
could be found better sportsmen and
allaround fine gentlemen.
In the boys under my charge this year
I had the greatest aggregation of ath-
letes ever assembled under one nag. II
made finer showing In track and field
events than any other team ever sent
out by the United States. We won six
teen first places. to say nothing of the
second and thirds. Let me say that
many OF our boys who took seconds and
thirds deserve as much credit as those
who got firsts. In the 800 meters run,
for instance, a small blanket would have
covered the first three Americans. We
had four men In the 1850 meters who
were practically as good as the winner.
Thus 1t was in nearly all the events.
System Responsible.
The American system OF developing
athletes in the schools and public play
grounds, firmly believe, is in a great
measure responsible for the unquestion-
able supremacy of our country over the
entire world. / do not see how any ma
tion can ever wrest the leadership from
US. Only when one considers the fear
full handicaps under which our team was
built up and trained can the results be
fully appreciated. The men who won for
the United States at the games in this
city are mostly men who began training
after the 1908 Olympiad at London. And
only unusual men on this team will be
able to win places against the new crop
of performers that will try for the 1915
team.
hope that every American boy will
follow the examples set by the members
OF this wonderful team. live clean lives,
and develop strong bodies. l am very
glad TO state that there is hardly an
injury among the members OF my team
In view OF the handicaps under which
We trained expected more breakdowns.
But all the boys went about their work
with good judgment. and the result
proved that the minimum number were
in championship form when called upon
training. and the disadvantages OF for
eign climate.
Marathon Men In shape.
The Marathon men are in fine shape.
and nearly all of them could go out
within a week and run the race over
again. Johnny Hayes. the hero of our
victorious 1893 club and winner OF the
Marathon at London, is being congratu-
lated on every hand for his good
work in training the Marathoners. The
fact that ten OF our twelve starters fin-
ished among the first twenty is still the
talk OF the city. In some respects this is
considered a greater achievement than
to have won the race.
The team breaks up tomorrow. Some
of the boys will return to America at
once, others vii. remain on the CONT
nent for a few weeks. The stay in
Sweden has been most pleasant imagin-
able. The summaries:
The closing day of the track and
field sports in the stadium developed
little sensation or excitement among the
spectators Doubtless the great Marathon
of Sunday took the edge OF the farewell.
Also the nations felt keenly the shadow
Of death that hovered over the pictur-