New Britain herald., 1922-12-26
ITALY AWAITING
 NEXT 0LYMP|AD
Many Athletes will Be Sent to
 Represent Country

fansiott boN'ihihfht " PoHNi VII
 have favorable influence upon the de- tvelopment of sport and athletics Tin
 Italy. Premier Mussolnls cabinet is
 composed mostly of young men be- tween the ages of thirty and forty, the
 majority of whom at some time or another have taken active part in
 some branches of athletics and have
 retained q deep interest in sports. Mussolini himself Is m expert fencer
 and his under secretary of state, Finzi,
 besides being one of Italy's most rec
 nowned aviators, was at one time one of the best five thousand metres run
 ner in the peninsula.
 The first effects of the assumption 'of leadership of the government by
 Mussolini in the field of sports, all.
 ready have been seen in the promise
 made by the Premier that appropria-
 tions of funds to defray the expenses
 of the Italian Olympic team to Paris
 in 1924, would be forthcoming. The, Olympic preparation in Italy, which
 had been stagnant throughout the l summer owing to lack of funds and consequent lukewarm enthusiasm, has taken on a new lease of life and followers of athletics in Italy are re- joicing. The preparation of the Ital-
 an Olympic team will be directed es- pecially toward the five and ten thousand meter race and the mara
 thon. Although sprints will not be
 neglected, the Italian Olympic com
 mittee feels that they have better ma s., -tol fA~ kIn tnfa 9
 mencing Sunday, November 26, when full distance marathon was run at Milan, there will be five thousand and ten thousand metres races in various cities of Italy Milan, Turin, Genoa, Naples or Rome, about twice al month. It is the intention of the i committee .o have four full Olympic !! distance marathons run between now and the departure of the Italian | team for Paris in 1924. The last one will take place about January, 1924.
 Signor Tonetti, vice-president of | the committee, is sanguine that Italy E has first class chance of carrying off | the blue ribbon of the Olympic games. Tn Arri Valerie, of Turin, and Hugo Fregorio of Milan, Italy claims to have discovered worthy successors to Dorando Pietri, whose dramatic fail- ure in the marathon at London, and subsequent races in America against Tom Longboat, Johnny Hayes and Alfred Schrubb, are well remember ed in sporting circles. Both Valerie and Fregorio can run all day. What they lack now is final speed for the last two or three miles. However they have both negotiated the dis tance well under two hours and fifty 
 Tn the five thousand metres Italy will present Ernesto Ambrosini of Ambrosini ran a good second to Pa ovo Nurmi at Paris some time ago, forcing the record breaking Finn to the limit in order to win by tenI yards in 15 minutes and i second. Since then Ambrosini Mas run the five thousand under fifteen minutes, IA minutes and 5S 2-5 seconds, to be ex- act.
 Tavesi of Milan, and Florentino, of . Livourno, are the best men for the ten thousand. Florentino, who was champion of Italy in 1920 but was off form last season, is stepping in , great shape just now, but he will rest up during the winter. He recently . turned in 32 minutes ? Is seconds.
 The sprints shot put, javelin and , iuscus throwing are giving the com nittee much concern, and they do not i ook forward to earning any points in these events, unless some phenom-l enom should come to light between , now, and 1924. The best sprinter , Italy can boast just now is Zucca, Of I Turin. His time for the hundred me- I res is 10 4-5 seconds.
 Tn the aquatic events Italy ex- i poets to make a good showing The f 5enoa quartet, as Bagicalupo, Costa | Malito, Sachner and Panero are f snown, will give a good account of in the tank The firstl hree have won thea swim across E oaris,' Malito defeating Ellington, of England, in record time this year. a oanero is a mere youth but coming i trong. q
 Amateur boxing, especially in the ( eatherweight and lightweight class r $, may also prove point winners for taly, according to members of the Olympic committee. They claim to ( lave a couple of future Johnny Dun s lees under cover in Calabria and Sic- Y ly and they will spring them upon N he unsuspecting feathers and light A weights from other countries. II
 It was pointed out to the corres- c 'ondent that although politicians in h taly are greatly divided on some of he issues of the day there is one
 oint upon which unanimity has been te