Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1948-08-13
A Nation of Sprinters

We have been largely a nation Of
sprinters, lacking the essential quail
ity of stamina that is even more i'm
portant than sheer speed On this
next occasion, Patton and Barney
EWell will have trouble overpoWer-
ing LaBeach in the two shorter
sprints.
We have no one to handle Herb
McKenley of Jamaica, who has run
the 400 below 46. Whitfield has a
terrific battle on his hands in the
800 as the stamina-infested Swedes,
headed by Lennert Strand, take
over the 1900 meter test. Any slight
chance we ever had in this race,
the best race on the card, vanished
with Gil Dodds. And Dodds at his
best was long price. Whitfield
can be the teams leading star.
We have heard every reason
under the sun for our inability
to develop distance runner.
The automobile? Well, the Firms
and Swedes also have automo-
biles. Running time takes too
long? 1t does for us. Lack Of
interest? Why? A marathon is
a far bigger race to win than
the 100 yard or 100 meter dash.
Do we develop race horses to run
four furlongs or mile and half
and two miles? Speed is important
in horse, but no more important
than his ability to go the route.
The Kentucky Derby is a mile
and a quarter. We have no derby
types in our Olympic runners. They
are from four to six furlong run
ners. Exactly they are from one
half to one furlong operators.
Plenty of Competition
When you have 81 nations and
some 5000 athletes no one can say
what has taken place in the last IL
years since the Berlin games. There
will be formidable competition from
Sweden, Finland, Australia, Eng
land, Jamaica, also Czechoslovakia.
Young John Kelly should take
care of the scullers and Cali
fOrnia should hold its own in
the eight-Oared race. We have
not done so well at mems SWIM
ming since johnny Weismuller
started climbing frees and beat
ing up gOrillas. We have won
the last five eight-Oared races
but haven't been any too hot at
the fOur-Oared types, with and
without a cOXsWain.
One interesting feature of these
games is the comparative times and
measurements from 1896 to 1886
the first and the last.
For example in 1896 W. w. Hoyt
won the pole vault with 10 feet 934
inches. In 1886 Earl Meadows won
with IA feet, 3A inches-a lift of
nearly four feet.
In 1896, E. H. Clark won the high
jump at feet liz inches. In 1886,
Johnson won at feet 7 and 1915
inches-almost foot higher. In
1896 Burke won the 100 meter run
in IL seconds. In 1886 Owen won
with 1913. The 400 meter run dropped
from 54.4 to 46.5, nearly 9 seconds.
The 1900 meter run dropped from
4.33.4 in 1896 to 3.47.8 in 1886 This
means a difference of more than As
seconds. You wouldn't think it pos
sible that such wide gains could be
made in such a short period of
time.
Races Improve
The point is this-if everything
that can be measured or timed
shows such a vast improvement,
why should old-timers in other
sports be rated even fairly close to
modern stars in football, baseball,
golf, etc.? If you care to be logical
about it, it doesn't make much |
sense. Certainly as far as sport is
concerned the race is improving
from year to year, getting better
and better. If you bring up the
matter of sanity we'll bow out.