Evening star., 1925-02-07

SHllCu oIdlcS ndQ Deen DleSSeQ with
coaches and ample funds. and had 81
the size OF the Finnish delegation.
Finland's 1912 showing had been
made without benefit of up-to-date
athletic fields or equipment and with
no paid instructors to teach her ath-
letes the form and fine technique of the
various Olympic events. That show
ing permitted no doubt as to Fin
lands future possibilities, and all Fin
land was ambitious to realize them.
And in the case of no citizen in the
little Baltic nation was the ambition
stronger than in the heart of Paavo
Nurmi.
Finland had been making an in
tensive study of track and field ath-
letics since 1912" says Paavo. TT
had sent Jonni Pikkola to America to
learn all he could of your methods of
conducting and coaching athletics and
had sent others to European ccun-
tries to learn their methods. Instruc
tions and action photographs began
coming back to US. Athletic clubs de-
veloped keen rivalry over the COM
pleteness of their picture galleries
and our boys would study the poses
of your runners and jumpers and
field event men and then go out and
attempt to copy them.
PaavO Picks His Course.
But we were lacking in equipment
and facilities, and when we compared
the marks our men made in the
sprints and shorter runs and the
hurdles and other events, we knew that
for time "a least we must rely on
our own specialtieS for Olympic glory.
One needs only a roadway to develop
distance running; one needs only a
field to develop javelin throwing, shot
putting and discus throwing. But one
must have nicely made cinder tracks
for sprinting and expert coaching for
hurdling, pole vaulting, high jump
ing and other specialties. We had
the roads and the fields: we did not
have the cinder paths and the coaches.
Thus the wiser knew that 1t would be
in distance racing and in the weight
events that we would count"
That realization placed load on
Paavo Nurmi's shoulders, but a load
he was am mbitious TO carry.
Paavo had no worries over winning
a place on the Finnish Olympic team,
though the Finnish Olympic fund
permitted sending only % track and
field men to Antwerp. He had proved
over and over again that he was
Ffnland's best runner at distances
from 1900 to 10000 meters. But he
wondered whether he would be able
to carry the burden that his pro-
ficiency placed upon him, for, as Fin
lands best at the foregoing distances,
he would be expected to engage in
four of the most taxing events on the
Antwerp program - the 5,000-meter
the 1o,08e-meter and the cross -coun-
try runs and the 3,000-meter team
race Paavo was ambitious to du-
plicate the 1912 Olympic performance
of Hannes kolehmainen, who, at
Stockholm. had won the first three
of those four events, but he was far
from certain of his ability.
Seeks Data on His Rivals.
During the months preceding the
Antwerp games Finland's sports pub
LEGATIONS devoted much space to the
foreign athletes Paavo would be
called upon to face. In the early
Spring of 1920 F. A. Montague of Ok
ford University, England, loomed as
the rival most to be feared In the
s, 5,0O0-meter Olympic event. He had
proved a consistent winner in his col
lege races and his times were i'm
pressive. A few weeks later Gordon
T. Nightingale of New Hampshire
State University was the man who
worried him, for Nightingale, in the
Pennsylvania relay carnival, had
soundly trounced Montague, who had
come to America with the oxford re-
lay team. Paavo breathed a sigh of
relief when he learned that for some
strange reason Nightingale was not
named as a member of the American
team to go to Antwerp.
Paayo's chief concern, however, CEN
tered on Joseph Guillemot of France.
That young man, still a soldier in the
French army, was the talk of the con-
tinent during the Spring and early Sum-
mer of that Olympic year. He first at
tracted attention by winning an army
race in exceptionally fast time and
thereafter his name appeared often IN
European sports pages, for he had not
only scored victories but lowered rec
ords. France hailed him as a second
lean Bouin, and France would not read
ily rate any with the famed Bouin, who
so gallantly sacrificed his life early In
the World War.
Feared GuiIIemot Most.
Bachman of Sweden and Wilson of
Great Britain were others who loomeo
threateningly in the events Paavo would
start. But he viewed Guillemot as the
man he must beat if he was to duplicate
Kolehmainen's triple triumph. He
wished to know more of the great
French runner. The papers told of his
margins of victory and the times he
made, but gave no information as to
his system of racing-whether he fol-
lowed or set the pace; whether he ran
evenly, according to a set schedule, or
engaged in intermittent bursts of speed
along the course. Paavo engaged in
terpreters to translate the stories on
Guillemot appearing in the French sport
papers that came to Helsingfors. But
they did not reveal what he sought and
Paavo arrived in Antwerp with no COM
plete knowledge Of the most difficult op-
ponent he would face.
Copyright, 1925, in United States, Canada
and Great Britain. by North American News
paper Alliance. Copyright (New York World)
Press Publishing Co. All rights reserved.)