Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-01-25
By j. W. Heisman.

y
TT will be remembered by all,
that Immediately at the con-
clusion of the Olympic games
At Stockholm last summer II was
reported that number of the Eu-
ropean countries were going to
prepare for the next war" in time
Of peace, and not wait till the war
was found to be on their hands
Particularly of England and France
was this the expressed determine
ton; and it proceeded from the
fact that their athletes had not
made much of a showing in the
games
Sweden and Germany were not
behind in their promises to make
things warmer for the American
team four years hence, but their
determination arose not from
chagrin or humiliation, but because
Of the interest they had been COM
PEELED to feel in the games on ac-
count of the favorable showing
their representatives had made.
Many of us had a notion that
these promises. or threats-call
them which you hke-were little
more than hot air, and that their
bluffs would be called in a week
or two, as they have in the past.
But have they? What have been
the developments?
IN the first place. we hnd that
Sweden has determined to re-
tain the services OF Ernie Htert-
berg, of Swedish parentage, but of
American birth. to train their
Olympic team for the coming four
years, and to get it ready for the
1915 meet in Berlin. This, though.
was rather TO be expected, as Swe-
den had shown before the games of
lastsummer that she was thorough
; ly in earnest about this Olympic
penn antbustness by having engag-
ed Hjertberg for the whole year
previous And then the Swedish
team met with such splendid sue
cess in the games, and the Ameri-
can methods of training, as exem-
plified by Hjertberg were 90 thor
oughly indicated that there could
be no other outcome to Sweden's
experiment and experience.
It was something like two months
ago that news came that Germany
had closed with Alvin KraenzIetn
10 handle their team for the whole
four years to come in an effort to
liven things up BIT for their Wis
itors in the good old summer time
OF sweet l6. And who is Kraen-
zlein? Another American born.
out this time. Of course. OF German
parents. And, by the way, Kraen-
zlein was just about the best ALL
round athlete the world had pro-
duced up to the time Thorpe came
along. Jimmy cricketsl What a
contest between these two 1t would
be IL both were at the height of
their powers!
In passing we might note that il
was not the Swedish descent of
Hjertberg nor the German lineage
of Kraenzlein that made them great
athletes. else their fathers or fore
fathers somewhere should have
amounted to something along this
line before them. Neither, proba-
bly,, was it the American climate
for there is plenty of bad climate
for track athletics in this country
and particularly where these two
chaps resided. 1t was some natural
ability plus the American system OF
training
WELL. along now comes France
and appoints a commission
TO take, up this subject OF general
preparation for the Olympic games
OF 1915, and to consider ways and
means to find and develop ath-
ietes who will carry the Fleur de
Lis to the front in the home city of
the hated despolers OF Alsace-Lo-
ralne. And the chairman Of the
commission comes out with the