Evening star., 1932-07-31
AMERICA IS AGAIN
BATTLING WORLD
Facing Strongest and Most
Widely Representative
Field in History.
BY ALAN GOULD,
Associated Press Sports Editor.

v OS ANGELES, July 80. =
Against the strongest and
IL most widely representative
challenging array of athletes
ever assembled, the United States
track and field team will start the
defense of its world championship
tomorrow on the newly laid
cinderpath and carefully groomed
infield of the Olympic Stadium.
There Is nothing new in the slogan
America against the world" in Olym-
pic competition. The sight of our
Olympic shield seems to inspire the lads
of other lands to renewed zeal and ac-
complishment. They prize a triumph
over the Americans as highly, almost,
as the gold medal that goes with VIC
tory in the international games.
Thus, 1t is not strange to find the
invading athletic cast primed, for the
most part, to extend their hosts to the
utmost They go into the games this
time with the confidence born of set
backs administered to our favored
SprinterS in three of the last four
Olympic daSheS, Of victories over our
accomplished hurdling aces and the
rout of all our runners from 800 meters
to the marathon.
Japan, Czechoslovakia, Argentina and
j Hungary are the latest to bring up
olympic reinforcementS for the
main battle, already waged so brilliantly
in the last few Olympiads by Finland,
Britain and Canada.
These countries will count their
achievements mainly in the gold medals
that 20 to first-place winners, even
though the United States, with well
balanced power and full representation
in all of the % track and field events,
safely can count upon piling up de-
cisive margin on points for the team
championship.
Six of the athletic feature events will
be started, but only three finished on
the Sunday program. Finals Will take
pound shotput and the 10,000-meter fiat
race. Two sets of trials will be con-
Quoted in the 100-meter dash In addi-
ton to the preliminaries in the 400
meter hurdles and the 800-meter run.
only two defending Olympic cham
" pions will step on the track or field
for these events. So swift has
been the turnover in talent since the
games of 1928 were concluded at Am
Sterdam.
One Of them is Percy williams,
Canadian greyhound of the cinders,
who is expected to wage sensational
fight against the hashy challenges OF
Ralph Metcalfe, Eddie Tolan and
George Simpson, Americas an-star trio,
as well as Arthur Jonath Of Germany.
The other is Lord Burghley Of England
In the 100-meter hurdles.
The banishment of Paavo Nurmi re-
moves the 10,000-meter titleholder from
the competition, but the Finns never
theless will We favored to retain this
championship, with Volmari Iso-Hollo
and Lauri Virtanen making their de-
but in Olympic competition. The man
they fear most is Janus Kosucinsh of
Poland. but Argentina's pair Of entries,
Juan Carlos Zabala and Jose Ribas, also
may make it interesting. although they
have their eyes mainly on the marathon
a week from Sunday
A LTHOUGH none Of the three Ameri-
n can entries Thomas Ottley, Elmo
Pentli and Louis Gregory, appear to
have more than an outside chance to
place, the chances of Uncle Sans boys
are extremely good In the high jump
and Shotput.
The jumpers, George SpitZ, Bob Van
Osdel and the Negro youth, Cornelius
johnson, appear the class of the field
in their speciality. One Of them Is likely
to have to beat the olympic record of
6 feet inches to win.
Leo Sexton, former Georgetown ath-