Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1917-12-29
DISCUS THROWING
ANCIENT CONTEST
Classic Revived at Olympic
Games at Athens in 1896.
Martin Sheridan Gave Greeks Great
Shock by Throwing Saucer Over
Wall Into RiVer-Crowds
Gathered Around Him.

Discus throwing is new and vet old ::
modern and vet enshrouded in an
tiquity. Previous TO 1896 the Saucer"
never had been thrown in this country.
For several hundred years previous to
1896 it had not been thrown anywhere
in the world. Many of the athletic
enthusiasts did not even know what
a discus was.
Others recognized it as a disk-shaped
missile the ancient Greeks used to hurl
in the ancient Olympic games and call
ed to mind Myron's celebrated statue.
the Discobolus, the discus thrower,
which now rests in the Ashmo-
lean museum, Oxford university, Eng
land.
Modern discus throwing received its
inception at the first revival of the
ancient Olympic games at Athens,
Greece. in 1896. Contrary to the gem
eral impression the idea of rcviving the
ancient carnival of the HelIenes did
not originate with their modern de
scendants. 1t is to France and a
Frenchman the honor belongs.
Idea of Frerchman.
The idea originated in the brain of
Baron Pierre de Noubertin, who in the
spring of 1893 made the first proposal
TO re-establish the Olympic games,
and on his initiative representatives of
the athletic organizations of various
countries assembled on July 16, 1894
in the grand chamber of Sorbonne uni
versity, in Paris.
OF all the competitions held at the
Athens Olympic of 1896 the Greeks
naturally were most keen ON winning
the Marathon race and the discus
throw, both contests being essentially
GreCian.
S. Loues, an African farmer, satisfied
the longings Of his countrymen by cap
turing the Marathon. but premier
laurels in the discus throw fell to a
stalwart red-hlooded son Of Uncle
Sam Bob Garrett of Princeton.
Bauer Of Hungary won the discus
throw at the Paris Olympiad of 1900,
but the wonderful Martin Sheridan re-
gained the 10 iaurels for Uncle Sam
at the st. Louis OIympiad in 1904 and
successfully defended the title at
Athens in 1906 and again at London
in 1908. Jim Duncan, now somewhere
in France with a regiment of United
States engineers. was the hope of
Uncle Sam in the discus throw in the
Stockholm Olympics in 1912, but fell
away off form and had to be content
ed with third place. First place was
won by A. K. TalpaIe Of Finland. II.
l.. Byrd, an American, rose to the Oc-
casion and finished second.
Sheridan's Great Feat.
At Athens in 1906 Martin Sheridan
gave the Greeks as great a shock as
they received from Robert Garrett q
decade previous. In a field just out
side of the stadium whore the games
took place there is mark Identifying
the spot From which an ancient Greek
athlete is fablod 10 have stood and
hurled q discus as far as the wall bor-
dering the River IIiScus Sheridan
standing on the mark. did not hit the
wall; he hurled the missile over the
wall into the river.
The feat impressed the Greeks more
than anything else thai happened at
the Olympic games in 1896. During the
remainder Of the American teams stay
in the classic Athens Martin could not
Pc ont on the street without crowds
gathering around him.