The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-11-04

TIC Hdu q ull d ulopGGCo LN'A
on the day | spoke to him and
at least half a dozen reporters
had beaten me to the interview. Al
ter the interview had degenerated
into a conversation he said he had
the answer all ready and was SUI
prised I hadn't popped the question.
1t surprised him, too, to be asked
about the Spartakiade. He had never
heard the expression.
what sort of results do they get?"
was what interested him.
"Results?"
eyes. What do they do in the
1902"
When he was told Soviet athletes
didn't go out Of their way for records,
he said, 80 what do they run for?"
Fun"
Sailing grinned. Might be good
idea. I ought to try it sometime"
T knew damn well the sort of re-
suits they were getting. I knew that
% fiat for the 200 meter and 50.2
for the 400 were good college results
here, but nothing to impress George
Sailing. He was definitely uninter-
ested in further discussion of the
Spartakia6e.
THAT'S the attitude you'll find
L among American athletes. Whats
the good OF competing if you don't
plan to eventually shoot for records?"
The Hemingway phrase: Living your
life to the hilt.
Tremendously attractive and ad-
mirable if you don't happen to start
thinking about it.
Do you know that 142 in the 100
high hurdles means years of energy
taken out of your life in merciless
practice? At that, chances are one
in a hundred thousand you'll never
get there. And If you do, how long
do you last and what happens on
the downgrade? Ask the former mile
record holder Joey Ray, he'll tell you.
Ask Eddie Tolan.
There's the argument that HARM
full though it may be for the athlete,
| it's the immense majority of the
spectators that is to be considered.
I don't know about that. The most
thrilling race ever witnessed was
between a couple of N.Y.U. and &C.
NY. freshmen who did 1923 for the
mile. 14.2 and Is flat took the same
to the man in the stands.
COMPARE the situation OF the
v competitors in the Olympics and
the Spartakiade. Holding a job
automatically disqualifies you for
the OIympics. You can't expect
mechanic or mill hand to give
ND his job for the period Of the
elimination, even providing he's
given the chance for tryout. He'd
never get 1t back, for one, and
who'd accommodate him with living
and travelling expenses? You have
to be more than crack performer
to get the big clubs backing.
The Soviet athlete is q worker,
a peasant, Red Army soldier, not
without the will to win, but with
interests beyond 100 yd. high hurd-
les. In the elimination he's not
backed financially by big-hcarted
alurnnus and morally by some ar
bitrary territorial division. His
backing is a social unit like the
factory or the collective farm that
spares no effort and little expense
to put over its representative. And
it's not an isolated effort concen-
trated in certain spots like the
Spartakiade, in order to make q
showing. The Soviet state and most
every other governmental
agency in the country are consci-
ousIy developing a sport movement
which in breadth and general bcne-
fits has long ago outstripped SINH
lar efforts in other countries. This
year the Soviet trade unions alone
have allotted 23,O00,00o rubles for
physical culture purposes.
Less than two weeks ago the Daily
Worker printed an interview with
Doris Gerald, former metropolitan
singles and mixed doubles tennis
champion in New York. Miss Gerald
married and had BABY.
The boy is big enough to be en-
trusted to neighbors, still, his mother
has only been able to take the court
twice in eight months. Domestic
duties.
This Is the sort Of thing that has
been done away with in the Soviet
Union. A nursery is one OF the
features Of the factories where wo-
men work. I wish we and the space
and the money to run some OF the
hundreds of the pictures in our files
of women athletes in the U. s. S. r.,
competing, at rest, marching IN
| parades.
Over 100000 worker sportsinen
from all over the world will parti-
cipate in the next Spartakiade to be
held next year From America the
Labor Sports Union is sending the
best forces 1t can muster. We have
no Georges Salings or even Doris
Geralds. But we do have about nine
months in which to attract an I'M
limited number Of organized and in
dividual athletes into our Union.
Let's get to work on that and there'll