The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1913-09-22
THE OLYMPIC
GAMES START
TALK ALREADY
UNITED STATES ATHLETIC Az
THoRETIEs CONTINUE TO LEAD
WAY AND AMERICAN PROS
Poets ARE BRIGHT.
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS.

/ championships. Inc games, their pre-
| liminaries and preparations are topics
/ OF national and international comment
and discussion throughout the old and
new world. In the midst of all these
preparations the United States ath-
! letic authorities continue to lead the
way. American prospects for the 1915
! Olympic games are brighter than at
| any time since the revival of this ath-
/ letic classic owing to the work Of the
! new international Athletic Fedora ii on
! just organized at Berlin by delegates
! from sixteen leading athletic countries
of the world
As a controlling international au-
thoritv for anna teur track and field
sports its suggestions to the Olympic
games committee will carry great
weight. The proposed J. A. F. stand
ard program of track and field events
is made up almost entirely of events
/ on the programs of American college
and athletic club events and the rules
are largely those to which the Ameri-
can athletes are accustomed. The vic
tory OF the American views at the
congress German sport critics .aseribe
to the fact the the events proposed
by the United States are practieed ey-
erywhere and are devoid of freakish-
ness the superiority of the results
produced under the American rules
and in no small measure to the ability
of the American delegates and the
prestige of American athletes.
It was the concensus of opinion
among the delegates that the American
representatives of the Amateur Ath-
letic Union were by far the best versed
in the theory and technique Of .ath-
letics.asWhen they advocated changes
in the rules they advanced excellent
reasons in support of their contention,
and won many victories and support
ers TO their ideas Some Of the rules
advocated at the suggestion of the
United States delegates were: Toe
board circles for the shotput; penal
ties for false starts, and a rule to pre-
vent the drawing Of several entrants
all representing one country in pre-
iiminary heats of races. On a few
points American ideas aware srejected,
as for instance ins adeptiug .s a Is
pound shot made of iron instead of
the smaller American lead shot, and
in providing for a dug-out take off for
the broad jump. against the United
States argument that the talSe-on
joist sunk flush with the ground was
far safer.
Staggered 5ritishers.
While the international Athletic
Federation was smoothing out wrin-
kIes in the program. to be, offered as
a model for the BeriHzr games the
Olympic controversy that has held the
attention of English athletic follow
ers since the Stockholm meet of a
year ago attained fresh prominence.
The proposal to raise q fund of $780,
600 rather staggered the average sub
-. e
few early subscribers to the fund there
was TO be done with this enormous
sum of money.
The Duke of Westminster in a public
letter calls attention TO the long list
of sporting trophies and champion
ships which England lost during the
past fifteen years. He wrote:
Polo. America: racquets, America;
yachting. America; lawn tennis (sin-
gles). New Zealand; lawn tennis (Da-
Wis .cup), America; court tennis Am
erica Gay Could; boxing, America
France; billiards (English) Australia;
swimming, America Australia; rugby
football. South Africa New Zealand;
lacrosse, Canada; cycling, France Ger
many: trotting horse. America. run
ming horse America horse jumping. |
>
shooting Q<ing's prize). Canada: skat- |
ing. Sweden; track and field athletics !
America
This is a tale of national disaster !,
Is England to do nothing to recover |
her ancient supremacy as the mother !
of sport? The king is both a man OF !
business and sportsman. AS Prince /
OF Wales on a memorable occasion, his /
momentous Wake up England cleo
trified an empire and gave an immense
TO commerce and industry.
AS our sovereign he now bids Britain .
to wake up in sport and hopes that
every effort will be made to ensure
that the United Kingdom. is repre- /
sented by its best athletes at the /
Olympic games in Berlin in 1915. We |
are in honor bound to go forward and /
do our level best TO restore the lost :
prestige of a great sporting nation.
But victory means efficient organiza- /
ton and training. and both cost mo-
ney.
I confidently appeal to my fellow
sportsmen TO help me in getting the
100000, for which a national appeal
was made by Lord Grey, Lord Harris,
Lord Rothschild, Lord Roberts Lord
Strathcona, and myself as quickly as
possible"
Surprise at Reception.
A surprise which was not part OF the
official reception was sprung on the
California tennis players who toured
the East this summer when they re-
turned to their native state recently.
Evidently several ambitious youngs-
ters had been pracricing with the
racquet all summer and the home com
ers received a distant shock in the
CaGecdnia state championship tour
In the doubles Maurice E
paired with Wickham