Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-25
WILL HAVE NO CREW
America Will Not Row in
Olympic Races.
ADOPTS AMERICAN SYSTEM
Swedes Conditioning Runners by
Following Along Lines in
Vogue in This Country.
BY EDWARD r. BUSHNELL,


1t is practically certain that the United
States will not be represented in the
Olympic regatta which is to be held in
connection with the fifth Olympiad at
stockholm, Sweden. this summer. While
the American committee has made no
positive statement to this effect various
members have stated to the writer that
tney see very little chance of getting
eitner the crews or the money with
which to send them. That being the case
the american committee will concentrate
It's efforts on the track and field section.
Inc experiences of the American COM
mittee in its efforts to get together a
representative crew in 1905 are still fresh
In memory. At that time the Olympic re-
gatta was in charge of the Henley
stewards There was certain amount of
d1mcuity encountered in conforming with
the entrance requirements OF the stew
dros, put after this was overcome it was
found practically impossible to get to-
gether representative crew from this
country. The great superiority of college
crews over the club organizations made it
IMPERATIVE that any crew which repre-
scented this country should be a college
crew. However. it was virtually i'm
possible for the college men to SO ar
range their training that they could make
the trip to England. This was due to the
Iact that no college crew was willing to
give up its competition at either the
Poughkeepsie or the New London re-
gattaS Tor the purpose of competing on
the Thames. In view of the fact that
the Olympic regatta distance was > Ia
miles. whereas the American crews were
training for a four-mile contest it would
have required an entirely different sort
OF training to prepare for the English
race.
Another obstacle which would not be
SurmOunted was the raising of funds The
expense of getting together the track
team was so great that the American
committee was obliged to leave at home
number of valuable men for lack of
FUNDS. 1t was therefore deemed mad
Visable to attempt to send a crew. even if
one could be gotten together.
One more difficulty was that any Amer
lcan college crew would be at a decided
disadvantage in England. The best OF
the English crews were made up of grad
uate oarSmen from Oxford and Cam
bridge, and therefore combined the best
aii-round rowing strength which England
had. Because of the fact that most Amer
lean college oarsmen give up their rowing
immediately upon their graduation, it
was out of the question for this country
to get together an all-cOllege crew. Amy
individual college eight would not have
mad much of a chance against the best
or England, and at such a short distance.
virtually the same conditions exist this
year, and remembering their experiences
IN 1908, the American Olympic committee
mas not even attempted to plan for repre-
sentation at Stockholm. The Swedish
Olympic committee has sent out informa-
ton in regard to the rowing events. They
will be held July Is and 10, or imme-
diately upon the conclusion Of the track
and field events. All the races will be
over course of 1900 meters, equivalent
to about one and quarter miles. This
is 5OO yards shorter than the regulation
course at Henley. There are to be four
feature events. They are a race for
eight-oared shells, race for four-oared
shells, with coxswains; a race for four
and race for single SOULS. 1t will be
noticed that there will be no paired Dared
races.
The Amateur Rowing Association of
England. which has been given charge
of England's rowing entries, Is just
now wrought up over the announce
ment of the Swedish committee that
the four-oared crew must carry a cox
swain. The Englishmen have very
famous four the Thames Rowing Club,
with which they expected to make a
clean sweep at Stockholm. With the
announcement that the four-oared
crews must each carry a coxswain
there was a disposition in England not
to send a crew for this event, but the
Thames four Immediately began to
practice with a coxswain, and did SO
well that the English think this quar-
tet will win the event in spite Of the
lack Of familiarity with this kind of
racing. AS England has always set
the standard for boat racing in Europe
it is difficult to understand why the
Swedes imposed such a condition.
If North America is to have any en-
tries at all In the Stockholm regatta
they will have to be furnished by Can
ada. There is some talk of sending the
famous Winnipeg four and the Argo-
maui eight to represent Canada. Both
of these crews have won honors at the
Henley regatta, and if they go they
will make the English hustle to beat
them.
A Wall From England.
F. III. Parker. who was appointed as
athletic adviser for the English Olym-
pic. team. has just returned from
Stockholm. where he made an investi-
CATION of the Olympic stadium and
track. and also picked up all the infer
nation he could regarding the strength