Imperial Valley press., 1924-07-28
AMERICA FAILS
TO MAKE SHOWING
in LONGER RUNS
81 Points to Spare Over
Finland, Nearest
Competitor
BY FRANK GETTY


backwards, the results of the 1924
Olympic Games give American
sportsmen cause for much satisfac
tion.
The team which bore the starry
shield ut Colombes Stadium sur
passed the efforts of our men at
Antwerp in 1920.
Our track and field athletes
lived up to the prediction that they
would win the games, with some.
thing to spare. They had, as IA mat,
ter of fact, 80 points to spare over
their most dangerous rival. Fin
land.
In figuring out the possibilities
i'll advance, most of us overlooked
IL. M. Abrahams in the 100 metres,
so that this his deserved vic
tory came as something of a sur
prise.
Jackson V. Scholz of the N. Y.
A. G.. scored America $ only first
place i'll the runs. 1t had been
anticipated that one of our quar-
termilers might win first in the
400 metres, but with the speedy
Iiddell of England III there, none
Of our sprinters had chance.
America failed TO make any
kind of Il showing in the longer
runs, and this was expected. The
great Nurmi won all those that his
countryman, Ritola, failed to ac-
count fori except the marathoni
and here another Finn, an aged
woodc&rver, who had not run in
active competition for Is years, one
Alben Stenroos, accounted for the
first place. The Firms thus took
every run from the 500 metres up
wards.
Our hurdlers, d. Kinseyp and +.
M. Taylor, scored first in their
respective events the latter break
ing a world $ record when he ran
the 4o0 metre timpers IA 0:J2 3-5.
u. S. Breaks Five Records
Speaking of world s records, there
were nine broken, five by Ameri
cans. Our team also set two new
Olympic marks and equaled one.
The strength of the United States
aggregation lay in the field events.
Clarence Houser, U. S. c., won two,
the shotpu and the discus throw.
Harold +. Osborne Illinois A. c.,
won the decathlon and the high
jump. Tootell, the former Bow
doin start took the hammer throw,
with heavy of ia feet. DeHart
hubbard, negro athlete from Miclri-
gan, won by the broad jump. Bob
LeGendre of Newark A. G. break
ing the world S record in this event
during the pentathlon competition.
We did not win the .iavelin
throw, which went to j. Myrra,
Finland; nor the pentathlon, which
also went to Finn. Lehtoncn. An
injury to young Hubbard probably
robbed us of a first place in the
hop-step-and-jump.
But Lee Barnes, California high
school youth, took the pole-vault,
so that the American margin of
profit in the field events was "a
substantial one.
Our relay teams showed to great
both the 400 metre ag-
gregation, Husscy, Clark, Murchi-
son and LeConcv, and the 1000
metre team, Cochran, Stevenson,
Mae Donald and Hellfrich, winning
their events in new world s record |
time.
Better marks were made in 1924
than in 1920 in "a of the 27 events.
The United States showed Il gain
over the Antwerp games when ID.
kinsey won the 40 metre hurdles. |
His time WAS one-fifth of a second
slower than that made by Earl !
of Canada in 1920, but !
this was "A first place which Amer
ica had failed to achieve four years
before.
In 1920, Finland and the United !;
States won nine first places each; !
this year we had II firsts TO 10 for
Finland. Therefore, any way the !!
games are scored, the United States
comes out on top.