Evening star., 1928-06-06
YRJOLA, FINN STAR,
FAvOR|TE |NEvENT
Has Shattered All Records.
Osborn, Victor in 1924,
Not to Compete.
BY TED MEREDITH.
tFamous Runner. World and olymni
ChAnnion ! ~ ~

tFamous Runner. World and Olympic
Championl
tCoNrtSAt. 1a@S, IN all countries NV the
NORTH American New spaper ALLIANCE.
Although the United States won first
and Second in the decathlon In the
Oiynplc games at Paris in 1924. with
Harold Osborn, Illinois A. c.. and Ener-
son Norton, former GEORGETOWN ath-
letA and although both are still In ac-
tive competition, it looks as If the title
III this event would move TO another
country.
Finland has developed man who
has unofnclally broken all existing de-
cathlon marks. This athlete. Paavo
Trlola, did the 10 events with a score
OF more than 5000 points. Osborn's
record is 7.7l0.775 points.
1r9oiaS strength is centereG mostly
II the weight eventS-the shot t49 feet1 g..
laVelm tlsS feet) and discuss lS5
Ieetl. His poorest event is the high
Jump, IN which he has done only 5
feet 6 inches.
Sweden also has a great decathlon
man IN Lundgren. who in winning the
Swedish national championship last
year made $500 points. But if my in
formation Is correct he set q mark a
thousand points better in another COM
petition.
The United States Is rich In decath-
Ion material If comparison is made with
the record set four years ago by OS-
born. But by comparison with the
mark made by Yrjola 1t does not stack
up so well. Yet there is every reason
TO believe that the best marks made in
the United States will be greatly i'm
proved before the Olympic event is
called for competition.
Osborn Out of DecathIou.
Osborn has informed Lawson Robert
son. American Olympic head coach, that
he VIII confine his work this year to the
high jump in which he holds the world
record as Well as the Olympic title
so he is eliminated from the entries
from the United States.
Norton Is out for the event, and while
he has not done any real competitive
work so far this year, it. is sure that
he viii be a better athlete than he
was four years ago.
Plansky. former Georgetown Univers-
ny star. won an Olympic trial held in
connection with the Penn Relay Car
rival in April. The weather was miSer-
able. so the results meant little except
for one thing Plansky beat two men.
Churchill. Oklahoma University. and
Vernon Kennedy. Central Missour;
Teachers College. who a week before
had made good scores under good con-
ditioas. Plansky beat this pair. who are
Also Olympic material. by about 500
points.
The week before Churchill did 1884
o0inIs and Kennedy 1872. On this basis
Plansky mighl be considered about 600
points better than 1900 points. which
brings him close TO the mark made bv
the Finn. Kenneth Doherty OF Detroit
College was second to Planskv. being
only 100 points away. and also de-
serves q high rating
Just short time ago James Stewart
SgUtheTn California. in sectional
OLYMPIC trial made a score Of 770o. a
shade under Osborn's record He viii
Dc highly rated In the decathion,
EIkins and Beriinger Coed
Fait Eikins. former Nebraska Uni
veTStty star. now competing for the New
York A. c., Is national decathlor cham
nion- Fait Is coming along slowly. ana
n the July trials should be doing his
best which is comparable with any
thing else that AZ present can be shown
In the United States.
One other athlete looks Ike material
fer this event. Barney Berlinger Uni
veEEity Of Pennsylvania BerIinger is a
freshman and is not yet seasoned as ]
competition. But one day. and maybe
this year. he viii be one OF the greatest
all-r0tnd athletes ever produced
Befiinger started in the Penn relay
trial but had a weak Leg. and was taken
csit after five events. He needs more
polishing IN discus. iaveiin and $40
yard run. II his leg allows him 10 work
before the final trials. he will be a hard
mar for any Of the American contest
ants 10 beat.
There is every indication that the
oeeathlo1 will be more keenly contested
o. Amsterdam than since IL was placed
OF TIE program in 1912 when Jim
Thorpe made his great name. only to
have to return the prizes because Of his
previous professional base ball career.
Tsorpe's points we're not recorded. but
those who approximately remember the
figures believe them TO have exceeded
5000. ] would not be surprised 10 see
tnst unofficial mark beaten.
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