Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1917-12-22
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 yet old;
modern and yet enshrouded in an
tiquity. Previous to 1896 the saucer"
never had been thrown I'm this country.
For several hundred years previous to
1896 1t had not been thrown anywhere
In the world. Many of the athletic
enthusiasts did not even know what
q discus was.
Others recognized II as 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 ut the first revival of the
ancient Olympic games at Athens.
Greece, in 1896. Contrary to the gen
eral impression the idea of reviving the
ancient carnival of the Hellenes did
not originate with their modern de-
scendants. It Is to France and
Frenchman the honor belongs.
Idea Of Frenehman.
The idea originated In the brain or
Baron Pierre de COubertin, who In the
spring of 1909 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 10, 1894,
in the grand chamber Of Sorbonne uni
versity. In Paris.
OF all the competitions held mt the
Athens Olympic of 1906 the Greeks
naturally were most keen on winning
the Marathon race and the discus
throw, both contests being essentially
Grecinn.
8. Loues, IN African farmer, satisfied
the lOngings Of his countrymen by cap
turing the Marathon, but premier
laurels In the discus throw fell to n
stalwart, red-blOoded son Of Uncle
Sam, Bob Garrett Of Princeton.
Bauer of Hungary won the discus
throw ut the Paris Olympiad Of 1900
but the wonderful Martin Sheridan re.
gained the lost laurels for Uncle Sam
ut the st. Louis Olympiad In 1904, and
successfully defended the title nj
Athens In 1905 and again Mt 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 OF form and had to be content
ed with third place. First place was
won by A. II. Talpale Of Finland. Il
L. Byrd, an American, rose to the oc
casiOn and finished second.
sheridan's Great Feat.
At Athens In 1905 Martin Sheridan
gave the Greeks as great a shock al
they received from Robert Garrett q
decade previous. In field just out
side Of the stadium where the games
took place there Is mark Identifying
the spot from which an ancient Greel
athlete Is tabled to have stood ant
hurled discus as far as the wall Dor
dering the River Hlscus. Sheridan
standing on the mark, did not hit thu
wall; he hurled the missile over thu
wall into the river.
The feat impressed the Greeks more
than anything else that happened n
the Olympic games In 1905. During thu
remainder of the American teams sta!
In the classic Athens Martin could no
60 out on the street without crowds
gathering around him.