At Lake Placid

The prelude to the Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, N. Y. was a month of slush and a series of mishaps on the Mt. Van Hoevenberg bob-sled run. Most calamitous of the accidents was last week's in which four members of the German squad, practicing on their round-runnered Deutschland II, jumped the slide at Shady Corner, going 65 m.p.h., and plunged into an 85-ft. gully. Steersman Fritz Grau, 37-year-old Berlin radio manufacturer, and his crew of three were hospitalized for sprained backs, concussions, lacerations, fractured skulls, broken wrists and shoulders.

Two days later, 335 other bob-sled riders, ski-runners, ski-jumpers, curlers, hockey-players, speed skaters, figure skaters and dog-team drivers opened the games with a parade on the ice track in Lake Placid's new $35,000 stadium. New York's Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt made a speech: "It is an evidence of the age of our modern civilization that the Olympics date back nearly 2,800 years. ... I hereby proclaim open the third Olympic winter games celebrating the tenth Olympiad of the modern era." Greek athletes, before their Olympic games, swore to compete fairly and to the best of their abilities. Modern Olympic athletes also have an oath, to recite which the U. S. committee selected Jack Shea, 21-year-old Dartmouth sophomore, speedskater and son of a Lake Placid butcher. While the other athletes raised their right hands in assent, Skater Shea solemnly assured 5.000 spectators: "We swear that we will take part in the Olympic Games in loyal competition, respecting the regulations which govern them and desirous of participating in them in the true spirit of sportsmanship for the honor of our country and for the glory of sport." First event was the 500-meter skating race. In the final, Shea got off to the quick start which is half the trick of winning a short race. Bill Logan, a Canadian, and Bernt Evenson, star of the Norwegian team which was favored to win most points in the Winter Olympics, cut in behind him.-- Evenson streaked into the last straightaway three yards behind but Shea had shaved the last turn closer and drew away to win by 5 yd. In the window of the general store at Hanover, where Shea works his way through college by waiting at an eating club, a placard announced his victory. His time--43.4 sec.--equalled the Olympic record. The 5,000-meter race was run off much more slowly in a slight flurry of snow. When Irving Jaffee of New York won, after outmaneuvering the Norwegian champion Ivar Ballangrud, the U. S. team had 29 points, more than its total in the Winter Olympic games of 1924. Next day, Shea won the 1,500-meter race, spurting at the start of the last lap to beat Alex Hurd of Canada. After a protest against U. S. speed-skating rules by Japanese, Norwegians, Finns and Swedes, and counter protests by U. S. skaters when they were compelled to recon-test preliminary heats, Irving Jaffee won the 10,000-meter race. Young Emile St. Goddard, of Le Pas. Manitoba, out-mushed old Leonard Seppala and eleven other drivers in the exhibition 25-mi. dog sled race. Point standing of the Olympic hockey teams after each had played three of its eight games was: Canada, 6; U. S., 4; Germany, 2; Poland, 0.

-- Points in the Olympic Game are unofficially computed by awarding 10 for first place, 5 for second, 4 for third, 3 for fourth, 1 for fifth, i for sixth. Since few countries enter teams in every competition, there is never an official winner of the Olympic games.

/-(Through a typographical error TIME fortnight ago reported the minimum margin for record-beating as 5 m.p.h. instead of .5 m.p.h.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.