Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1921-08-08
MODERN SWIlLlIERS BREAK ALL
RECORDS or OLD AQUATIC STARS
Feats of kahanamoka and Ross Among Most Remark
able OF Modern notwithstanding Achieve
ments in All Sports.

NEW YORK, Mug. !. Tins has
been an eN;raordiuary year in attn
lc;ics. Many Of tic wos!J's mark :
established twenty years ago have
either been cquallcd or shattered. Sew
cral of these cures, notably the
Sprinting marks cQuallcd ana bet
tered by Charles Paddock on the Coast
this spring and the broad Jumping
of Ned Gourdin OF Harvard. stand out
most prominently.
Both marks set by paddocl< ana tho
colorcd Crimson star would tend To
suhstantiatc the fact that the present
day athlete oNCcis the stars Of the
past. Paddock has done better sprint
ing according 10 tire times of Cali
fornia than amy athlct" in ;hc long
history OF the track. While D;ourdin's
jump erased every long jumping rec
ord.
Mark Prove Little.
These two new marks have little
Significance. however in proving the
superiority OF the prescnt-da star.
For every record cquallcd or broken
today You will note two established
by stars of few vars ago. Some Of
these marks linrcr under the
Worlds Best Records" as If they
were chiscllcd in stone. bearing ont
tho truth in III" athlete on the track
and field of the past being equal to
the best We have today
Right on down through the Vistas
of sport. where figures Of the stop
watch offer correct basis OF com
parison. the athletes ot past genera
tons can bc rated on par with those
OF modern times. All have been
equal in their athletic achievements
save one, swimming. II is one branch
OF athletics where the uld-timcrs can
not say. They are not what they used
TO be"
The modern swimming stars tower
head and shoulders over the aquatic
are left on the books, and the ones
that are generally ar. broken before
the international Amateur Athletic
Federation can sanction them.
The introduction of the modern
strokes has been the chief cause ri
the steady ,umhlimg Of swimming
records. Aud in their introduction The
! United States leads the world both
| In swimming and the greatest num-
her Of swimming stars. In fact. SO
steadily have the Americans been
proGrcssin rthat there is no predict
| ing when the international record
| breaking VIII cease.
About twenty years ago the Aus
| tralian swimmers were the greatest
In the world II. Il. Kicrau, Richard
| Cavill, Wickham. &. licaly. y w
Barry. Bcaupcairc, Longworth. Cham
|pion and liarwick for years held the
! worlds swimming supremacy. This
supremacy was held right up until the
/ OLYMPIC Games at Stockholm. 1912
when they rclinuuishcd their leader
/ shin to Germany. never to be re-
! gained again.
Perfection of Leg Drive.
Much OF the Australians success
has been attributed TO the perfection
of tho leg drive. Richard Cavill. In
| 1900. wascrcd that he could swim 100
yards just as fast with his legs tied
together at the ankles as he could
using the trudgcon kick. lie won
! this was ting advent OF the Australian
crawl stroke. Cav!n's contention was
that tn awkward trudgcon effected
more resistance, decreased momentum
, forward and in general retarded the
| progress of speed swimming. Later
[ CaNill used a slight fluttcr to his two
tr"t, held on the surface of the water
which WAS later called the Australian
crawl and helped its dscovcrcr to es-
tahlish' many new worlds records
and rcvolutioni::ed speed swimming
SUt the swimmers from the anti
rodes were not 10 dominate the world
very long. Their International lead.
crship was short lived
Vt the fifth OiympiIl at stock lnl II,