The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-12-22
EUROPEANS ID
 TRAINATHLETES LIKE AMERICANS

New York, Dec. 22.-Adopting the same systematic methods which Am erican athletic authorities proved successful in the past, European na- tions are preparing for the Olympic games of 1920 in a thorough manner which bodes no easy victory for the United States athletes in the interna- tionaI track meet at Antwerp, Bel gium next August. Campaigns for the development of teams. collection of funds and other
 important details, essential to suc-
 ces in such an elaborate undertaking,
 are already under way, aided in sev- eraI cases by government supervision and subsidies.
 No better example may be cited that the plans and arrangements of the French which involve a generous
 use of the army methods and system. Three classes remain mobilized of the great army of France at the present time. They are the class of 1917; boys aged P; that of 1918, aged 21; , and the class of 1919, youths of 20 Thus the flower of the French race, physically and from an athletic point of view remains under arms. They. are distributed in various three classes 1 that athletic France expects to re- cruit thirty or forty first class ath- | 1etes to add to the already fair quota 1 Of men who are slated to represent 1 France at Antwerp.
 i The following program has been 1 decided upon by the athletic direc- 1 tors of the French army at the head l of whom is Colonel See, Chief of the 1 JoinVille School of Athletics for the 1 French army.
 i Elimination trials will be conduct o7
 l three classes, each soldier making a 1 speciality of the sport for which he | has shown the greatest inclination l and to which he has been pronounced 1 f1ttest by the doctor of the regiment 1 These trials will occur after three 1 four and perhaps six months of prep | aratory training under the eye of an | athletic director. Soldiers who have 1 shown class warranting their under going further training will be picked out and directed to one of the large centres nearest their billet: Stras-
 burg, Lyons, Marseilles, Bordeaux and Paris.
 According to the schedule adopted, 1 the men chosen as being worthy of | further trial will reach their various
 headquarters sometime in the spring Then semi-finals will be held in i Strasburg, Lyons, Marseilles and f Bordeaux and it will be a case of the survival of the fttest- These will be 1 sent to JoinVille, near Paris, where the final touch will be put to their preparation.
 Fifty chiefs Of battalions are just
 now finishing a special course of training at the Joinville School and in a few weeks will be disseminated
 among the garrison towns of France fO f6a fT-aiu iuin of an and officers.
 Two hundred officers and 150 men
 are already hard at work at the school, some of them training in .: their own behalf, others getting ready to take in the men who will be sent to them from the provinces. Jofnvi;Ie is close to the Pershing Stadium and the final work of the
 Olympic candidates will be done at i tjta former American Stadium
 One million francs of the 10,000,-
 COG voted by the Chamber of Depu- ties for tho inIs7lsi6cation of ath- letic training among French youth ] has beer aprropriatsd for the work
 ! at JoiIIv1lis.
 The cfficera an3 pen al Jofnville are already framing tE earnest and an Associated Pr&ss correspondent } recently saw Tirard >reg0tfate the 100 , meters in II seconds flat; Seurin 7 cover zoe meters in 22 1-2; CarlaiS run 1000 meters in two minutes, 35
 seconds and young Guillemot do 1O
 l:iIorn eters without being pressed in
 33 minutes These performances are r very close to championship form. . Young GuiIlemot is considered as : being the most likely successor to the famous J. Bouin. He is somewhat awkward in his style but when it Is realized that six months ago he had