New Britain herald., 1928-06-15
OLYMPIC RACE IS
 NEARING FINISH
Scramble for Places on Team Coming Close to Home Stretch

New York, June IS LP,-The country wide scramble for places on
 the Olympic track and field team is
 nearing the home stretch. It al- ready has produced a flock of out
 standing performers and it will de- velop few hundred more in the
 six district try-outs yet to be held as part of the wedding out process
 prior to the final tests at the Sesqui- 1 Centennial stadium. Philadelphia, July 3-4, and the Harvard stadium. July 6-7.
 In three widely scattered sectors tomorrow the spotlight will be on many of the foremost American hopes, with the sprinters subject to the closest scrutiny of any special ists. The athletes who prefer to get their performances over with as quickly as possible will concentrate at Los Angeles and New York but 1 Denver may also be heard from with the Colorado star, Haynes.
 leading the pack of sprint contend CTS.
 Olympic championships are not
 won in these tryouts but after they are over at Los Angeles new ma terial will be available on the rela- tive merits of Charley Borah and Charley Paddock as well as the pos abilities of such youngsters as Wyk- off, Draper and Lombardi. In the east, it will be possible to tell what is to be expected of such speed kings
 as Schelz, Hussey, Locke, Russell, Bowman, Wildermuth. Cumming. Clarke and McAllister.
 Although the American team doesn't depart until July Il, Lloyd i Hahn already has become the
 storm center of the preliminary
 campaign. Piqued by the refusal of
 the authorities to let him go over in advance alone, and also perhaps by
 the failure of the New England A. A. U. to pay his expenses to the l New York try-outs, Hahn has indi- cated he will enter only one race, the 500 meters. instead Of trying for q double in the 1.500. Although Jack Ryder, his coach, doesn't share the same views, Hahn is understood to feel that he cannot do himself justice in the two races against such
 fast company as he will find at Amsterdam without longer time to condition himself abroad,
 Hahn probably will be prevailed upon to change his mind. It will be pointed out to him that the last American to score a double in these events. Mel Sheppard, didn't need extra time to fit himself for his triumphs at London in 1908. Peer lcsssMel not only won the 800 and 300 meter races but romped in first in the 5000 meter team race. Again in 1912, at Stockholm, where circumstances of the American teams arrival coincide with those at Amsterdam this year, Sheppard ran in the 4OO. 500 and t.500 races. He didn't win any of them that year but if took q sensational worlds record performance for Ted Meredith to
 beat Mel in the 500. his best dis tanCe.
 If any additional evidence of the worldwide character of the Olym- pics is needed it is furnished by the results of the events held thus far. Three cham pionships for 192S have been settled with victory going to Norway in the winter sports. India
 in field hockey and Uruguay in soc- cer football competition.
 Europe, Asia and South America thus haze furnished winning com- binations as d prelude to the major
 tests, starting July 2S, when the agile representatives Of Uncle Sam should begin to carry off the laurels for North America.
 Australia produced one champion last time and South Africa has had
 a number Of winners but the Orient, represented by China, Japan and the Philippines. has yet to acclaim an Olympic victory.