Evening star., 1952-07-20
Paayo Nurmi cspies
Torch TO Open 5qesi
0Iympics in His
BY The Associated PrS

By The Associated Pre-
HELSINKI, July 49,. Tie 1852
Olympic Games opened 1eds in
sodden splendor befof a 900
spectators who cheered Idly for
the big Scandinavian al Ameri-
can teams, but greeted SbViEt Rus
sia's first appearance With only
polite applause.
One unscheduled incident
marked the rain-saturated, solemn
ceremony. A shapely woman in a
flowing white robe tried to get the
loud speaker on the central dais
to harangue the crowd, but was
hustled away by police.
Paavo Nurmi, Finland's i'm
mortal distance runner of the
1920's, wearing the pale blue and
white uniform he made famous.
carried in the Olympic torch set
ablaze on sacred Mount Olympus.
Hannes Kolehmainen, another
Finnish Olympic champion, lit
the flame atop the 24-story sta
dium tower, where it will burn
throughout the Games.
$3.50 Athletes Compete.
This set of games is the biggest
ever. with 5,870 athletes compet-
ing. Soviet Russia is taking part
for the first time, and Germany
and Japan are returning after a
war absence.
For an hour and 10 minutes,
5000 athletes and officials from So
nations paraded around the brick
red running track, their jackets
clinging Imply to their husky
frames. They churned the cinderI
surface to muck. Tomorrow the
actual competition starts on al
running track which apparently
has been damaged.
Red China, although admitted
to the competition, was not in
the parade.
1892 Disturbance Recalled.
The unexpected appearance Of
the woman in white recalled the
disturbance that marred the
close of the 1882 games in Los
Angeles when boys and girls in
running suits carried placards
around the track reading: Free
Billings and Mooney"
Tom Mooney and Warren K.
Billings were labor union leaders
then serving prison terms in Cali
fornia for the 1916 Preparedness
Day bombing in San Francisco.
j. Lyman Bingham execltive
director of the American Olympic
team, said he understood the
woman was trying to make
peace" demonstration.
Only a few minutes before the
outbreak. the President, Juho <.
Paasikivi, spoke the simple
phrase that set the games in
motion:
II declare the 18th Olympic[
Games at Helsinki open"
The Olympic hymn was sung,
$500 homing pigeons from Swe-
den and Denmark SCARED up. and
artillery outside the stadium fred
. 21-gun salute.
AL day it rained-cold, wet,
and miserable. But every seat
in the trim, modernistic stadium
was taken. Umbrellas blossomed
all around, looking like fungus
clinging to the side Of a dead
tree.
American COlorS Predominate.
Blue jackets and gray trousers
and skirts predominated in the
parade. This was the attire of l.
the big American team that
trudged along, its white shoes
splattered with mud. Norman c.
Armitage. New York fencer
whose Olympic competition began
in 1928, carried the Stars and
Stripes.
Back of him marched Avery
Brundage, newly elected president
of the International Olympic
Committee.
There were brilliant exceptions
to the prevailing tone of blue.
RuSSia's men wore white, and its
husky women were attired in blue
jackets with white skirts. The
Danes had bright red jackets that
matched the crimson field of their
flag, and Guatemalans wore pink
jackets
The teams marched in order
according to the Finnish alpha
bet, except that as usual Greece
came first. and Finland. as the
home team, was last.
Russians Politely Applauded.
Russia. midway in the parade,
was given polite applause all
around the stadium. Norway,
Sweden. and Denmark, drew loud
cheers. The United States team
came at the very end, just ahead
of Finland-since United States"
in Finnish is "Yhdysvallat." A
great roar accompanied the big
squad around the track, exceeded
only by that given Finland.
The appearance of Nurmi on
the track created a sensation. No
one knew who would have the
honor of carrying the torch in
its stadium appearance until
Nurrni, now SIS and a little thick
around the middle, came in with
the same effortless, space-eating |
stride that ground down all OPP
position 80 years ago. The crowd
went wild.