Evening star., 1932-01-31
TOO LATE TO USE
OLYMPIC COURSE
Uncertainty Over Contests
Ended as Foreigners In
woke Obscure Rule.
BY EDWARD J. NEIL,

OO.-h Va VA
- cumstanceS wiped out the
troublesome North Ameri-
can and Amateur Athletic Union
bobSleigh championships today
leaving Lake Placid free to con-
Centrate on the third Winter
Olympic games, opening Thurs
day.
Postponed three successive days;
scheduled finally for tomorrow and
Monday. the bob runners disappeared
from the spotlight on the echoes OF
the first controversy of the OlymplcS,
giving way before the formal protest
of the German and six other foreign
entries who invoked the Olympic rule
that no bob-sled competition may, be
held on an Olympic slide eight days
before the games themselves.
1t was Just as we'll that the in
vading teams brought up the almost
forgotten rule for there was little
chance anyway that the 100000 slide
would be fit for competition prior to
the actual start of the Olympic games.
Soft weather yesterday and high winds
took all the snow from the treacherous
ice surface and the Olympic Commit
tee already had decided on an inde1-
mite postponement because of condi-
tionS when the foreign entries settled
the matter definitely with their protest.
THERE was a slight possibility that
L the North American champion
ships would be held February Is
and l6, starting Immediately after the
close of the Olympic games, but no
definite decision has been reached.
Thus Lake Placid, started by the in
N,~ir fr,n 70 10Ule that de-
veloped over the bob-sled event when
Ralph J. Ury, chairman of the Regis
tration Committee for the Adirondack
division, summarily suspended Jay
OBrien. head of the United States
Olympic Bob Sled Committee, and
seven others for improper registration
settled back to watch the mercury sink
in the thermometer tubes, and to await
the start of the Olyrapic furor.
I was a grand day for concentration
on Winter sports as snow fell lightly.
1t grew steadily colder and wrinkles
smoothed out of the brows of the
townsfolks with predictions that to-
morrow would bring zero weather. For
the past three weeks the citizens have
been wandering the fag-draped streets
in semi-daze, feeling rain drops for
signs OF snow muttering over abnormal
temperatures that wiped away ice and
left Lake Placid, famous for its frigid-
ity, more Of Summer resort than
Winter Olympic host.
THE arrival Of two Hungarian figure
l. skating pairs completed the roster
Of the IT nations entered in the
games and brought the total of ath
letes to well over 300. There are still
odd-lot entrants from various nations
to be heard from, but at least one ath-
lete of each nation now is on the scene.
The HungarianS Immediately joined
the skaters of other nations, working
out in the new indoor Olympic arena,
in the center of hordes of speed skaters
who skim endlessly around the rim Of
the artificial ice surface. The arena
was crowded all day.
Out on the ski trails, where the snow
Is still thick on the wooded hills pro-
tected from the sun. the Norwegian and
Italian skiers staged an l8-Nlometer
race just for fun and exercise.
In all, 20 skiers hit the trail over the
1l1-mile course and John Grottums-
bratten of Norway. Olympic champion
in that event. outdiStanced the field as
10 Norwegians covered the course before
two Italians could finish. Grottums-
brattenS time was l hour, 20 minutes
and IA seconds, six minutes behind the
Olympic record and the fastest time
ever turned in here. Ole Stenen finished
second and Magnus Satire third.
Only one accident marred the day.
Robert c. Livingston, former Princeton
hockey star, was hit in the face with a
stick during the United States hockey
team practice this morning and suffer-
ed a broken nose. He will miss practice
for few days.
Both the United States and Canadian
speed skaters, favoriteS in that division
of the games, put in an intensive day
of practice After the opening cere-
monies Thursday, the 5O0meter pre-
lirsinaries in the morning, and the
5,6OO-meter trials in the afternoon pro-
vide the first Olympic competition.