Xth Olympiad

Observers who expected the Xth Olympiad* of the Modern Era to be a failure because of Depression, international hard-feeling or Los Angeles' promotion methods were vastly disappointed last week. The Xth Olympiad was a gorgeous, unprecedented success. More people attended the Games than ever before (510,000 through last week). The athletes (1,740), better housed than ever, enjoyed themselves more than hitherto. In actual competition, it began to look last week as though the Xth Olympiad might be too much of a success: in almost every race, runners broke Olympic records. This was not entirely because the runners at Los Angeles last week were faster than those at Amsterdam in 1928 or at Paris in 1924. It was not due to timing, done by a combined camera and stopwatch operated by electricity, switched on by the starting gun and stopped by the breaking of the tape. It was partly due to the track in the Los Angeles Coliseum. Five years ago a Los Angeles hurdler named Kelly, practicing on a disused trotting track near Los Angeles, found the surface particularly fast and springy. Los Angeles contractors said the track was made of peat. The Olympic Committee used crushed peat (taken from Baldwin Hills where is the Olympic Village) for the track in the Los Angeles Coliseum. Six footraces last week proved that it was the fastest track in the world.

First of last week's world's records came in the 800-metre finals. England had won at 800 metres in the last three Olympic Games. At the finish last week a skinny, spectacled Oxonian named Tom Hampson won for England again in 1149.8. After breaking the tape, Hampson fell flat on his face beside the track. He managed to stand up without help when the band played "God Save the King." Second to Hampson by a foot was Alexander Wilson of Canada, who had raced him stride for s tride over the last 100 yd. Third was Phil Edwards, Canadian Negro who used to run for New York University. Edwards had set the pace for the first lap, held on to save third place by 2 yd. from U. S. Champion Eddie Genung.

In the finals of the 200-metre dash next day, huge Ralph Metcalfe, Marquette University Negro, was favored to beat stubby little Eddie Tolan of Detroit, who had beaten him by two inches at 100 metres. Metcalfe started badly. At the head of the straightaway, 100 yd. from the finish, a white runner, George Simpson of Ohio, was in front. A yard behind him pounded Tolan. Behind Tolan was an Argentine, Carlos Bianchi-Luti, a stride ahead of Metcalfe. Tolan's horn-rimmed glasses were held on by white adhesive tape. He had a great white bandage at his left knee to keep it warm. He chewed gum as his short legs hammered the track like black drumsticks. At the finish he was first by 2 yd., with Simpson second, Metcalfe third, Arthur Jonath of Germany fourth, in world's record time--21.2 sec.

After the finals of the 110-metre high hurdles, the track looked as though someone had driven an automobile through the jumps. Willi Welscher of Germany had knocked down four, enough to disqualify him. John Alton Keller of Ohio State had knocked down two and finished fourth, Donald Finlay of England who was given fourth place until an electro-photograph of the finish proved that he was third, was a step behind Percy Beard, Alabama Tech instructor whose scissor legs usually make up over the jumps what speed they lack on the flat. Even University of Iowa's lean George Saling had kicked over one hurdle, the last, when it was too late for Beard and Keller, who had fought for the lead through the first 100 metres, to catch him. If he had cleared the tenth barrier, Saling's time-- 14.6 sec.--would have tied the Olympic record. He had beaten it and tied the world's record--14.4--in a semi-final heat.

The stadium employe whose job it was to run the flags of winning countries up the highest of the three flagpoles on the stadium's peristyle was pleased by the final of the 1,500-metre race. From where he stood, watching the tiny runners crawl around the track, a bunched field thinning out on the last lap while one dark little man sprinted furiously to get in front,it was impossible to see who had won; but after the race was over, the employe received, for the first time, the signal to hoist the Italian flag to the top of his pole. As the flag went up, the employe saw the dark little man fiddling calmly with the zippers of his training pajamas, then walking solemnly across the green arena toward the victory stand, his right hand raised in a Fascist salute. The loudspeaker told the flag-raiser who it was -- Luigi Beccali, of Milan.

After the finish of the 5,000-metre race the judges deliberated for an hour before they could decide who had won. Lauri Lehtinen of Finland had come in first, by three inches, in Olympic record time of 14:30. But Ralph Hill of Oregon, clocked in the same time, had tried to pass Lehtinen twice in the homestretch. Both times Lehtinen had moved over and blocked him. Chief Judge Arthur Holtz of Germany finally announced that "No. 125 [Lehtinen] did not wilfully interfere with No. 433 [Hill] . . . ," gave the race to Lehtinen. For the first time during the Games, the stadium crowd set up a mighty BOO ! Ralph Hill filed no official protest.

The final of the 400-metre run, Olympic equivalent of the quarter-mile, was the third race between Benjamin Bangs Eastman of Stanford, who made world's records for the quarter-mile and half-mile early this spring, and Bill Carr of Pine Bluff, Ark. and Pennsylvania University who had beaten Eastman in the Intercollegiates and again in the Olympic trials. This most intense personal rivalry of the entire Games was settled fairly and beyond doubt. At the staggered starting line, Eastman had No. 2 lane, a better position than Carr in No. 4. For the first time in an important race last week, there was no false start. The field, crouched for the gun, got away together, swept smoothly around the turn, came into the backstretch with Eastman three steps ahead. Eighty yards from the tape, Carr's smashing sprint caught the loping Eastman. At the finish, Carr was .2 yd. ahead, in amazing world's record time of 46.2 sec.

Broad Jump. A tiny Japanese flag was posted 26 ft., 2 1/2-in. from the takeoff. That was to mark the world's record of Chuhei Nambu, but Nambu could not reach his flag last week. Loud "Banzais" came from a crowd of Japanese sailors in the north grandstand when he got near it with 24 ft., 5 1/4 in. A tall Negro from the University of Iowa, Edward L. Gordon, got closer and won with 25 ft. 3/4 in. It was the first major event that did not set a record.

Pole Vault. Bill Miller of Stanford lay on his back in the sawdust pit, looking up at the bar, 14 ft., 3 in. over his head. The bar was jouncing and shaking but the huge, pleased roar of 85,000 spectators did not make it fall. Japan's little Shuhei Nishida, grinning broadly, helped Miller to his feet. Amazingly, Nishida had vaulted higher than Bill Graber or George Jefferson, two U. S. contestants who had been expected to fight it out with Miller for the Olympic championship. At 14:3, Nishida had tried three times and missed, then watched Miller shake the bar with his arm as he managed to clear it on his last try. The height of the bar at the middle--14:1 7/8-- was an Olympic record but 2 1/2 in. shy of Bill Graber's historic vault in the trials.

Discus Throw. The first throw, by Jules Noel of France, was a new Olympic record--157 ft., 2 in. A few minutes later, Noel's record was broken by Henri Laborde of Stanford, with 158:3. John Anderson of the New York Athletic Club smashed Laborde's trial record with 160:3 3/4. Anderson's last qualifying throw, 162 ft., 4 7/8 in., was an Olympic record that will last till 1936.

50,000-Metre Walk, an Olympic event that it cost nothing to watch, was examined from the rear last week by Los Angeles urchins who followed the walkers through Griffith Park. Thomas William Green, 39-year-old English railroad worker, was immune to jeers or encouragement. He started slowly, took the lead after 28 mi., when seven other walkers had collapsed from the heat, finished first in 4 hr., 50 min., 10 sec. Second was Janis Dalinsh of Latvia. He collapsed at the finish, had to be carried home as did Ugo Frigerio, winner of Olympic walking races in 1920 and 1924, who came in third.

Javelin Throw. The Finns, who since 1912 used to win all the distance races at the Olympics, did poorly this year, with pale Paavo Nurmi sitting in the grandstand. Three Finns who were particularly disappointed were the Jarvinen brothers, Matti, Karlo Werner and Akilles. They had often heard stories about the 1906 Olympics from their father, Werner Jarvinen, who won the Greek style discus throw that year at Athens. Matti Jarvinen, spectacled sporting-goods clerk of Davaro, won Finland its first event last week with another implement that old Werner Jarvinen had shown him how to handle. He threw the javelin 238 ft., 7 in., an Olympic record.

Hop, Step & Jump. Light on their feet and much given to eccentric motions of the body, the Japanese naturally excel in such oddities as hopping and skipping. Mikio Oda was champion in 1928. Little Chuhei Nambu, taped at the ankles and limping from his exertions in the broad jump, won again last week with a new world's record of 51 ft., 7 in. while Sol ("Happy") Furth, U. S. hopper who crossed the U. S. twice to compete in the Olympics, finished sixth. In Tokyo, street bands played the national anthem "Kimigayo."

The Modern Pentathlon, run off on five successive days, was invented by the romantic Swedes, has invariably been won by one. The Swede who won last week, Count Johan Gabriel Oxenstierna, did it without placing first in any of the five events. He was fourth in the riding (on unfamiliar mounts over 500 metres of un familiar terrain), 14th in fencing (with buttoned epees), second in the pistol shoot (at disappearing targets with a 45-calibre revolver), fifth in the swimming, seventh in running 4,000 metres across rough country. Point total: 32.

Decathlon (100-metre sprint, broad jump, shot-put, high jump, 400-metre run, 110-metre hurdles, discus throw, pole-vault, javelin throw, 1,500-metre run) went to huge James ("Jarring Jim") Bausch, insurance salesman and onetime University of Kansas footballer, who was in sixth place before the last five events, finished with a world's record score of 8,462.23. Second was Matti Jarvinen's brother Akilles with 8,292.48.

Steeplechase. The course in the 3,000-metre steeplechase was 3,450 metres. Officials had made a mistake in designing it. After the race judges consulted the runners who, instead of protesting for a re run, agreed to stand by the result: Volmari Iso-Hollo (Finland) first, by 70 yards, Tom Evenson (England) second, Joe McCluskey (U. S.) third.

Relays. Californians were appalled when Frank Wykoff of Southern California, Bob Kiesel of the University of California and Hector Dyer of the Los Angeles A. C. were shut out by Tolan, Metcalfe and George Simpson in the Olympic trials. With Emmett Toppino of New Orleans, Wykoff, Kiesel and Dyer formed a "goat" relay team which last week set an incredibly fast world's record (40 sec.) in the 400-metre final, with Germany second. In the 1,600-metre relay Bill Carr led in the British anchor man, Lieut. Godfrey Rampling, by 20 yd. The world's record set was 3:08.2.

Marathon, First as the runners left the stadium after the start was a 20-year-old, 114-lb. Argentinian newsboy, Juan Carlos Zabala. He wore blue trunks, a white polo hat to protect him from the sun, carried a handkerchief to mop his face. The field of 28 plodded through the hot streets of Los Angeles. They had 26 mi., 385 yd. to go in the race that closed the track & field events of the Xth Olympiad.

Little Zabala was still in front after eight miles. Then the crowd at a street intersection saw Margarito Pomposa Banos, the Mexican, catch up and go past him. Five miles further on, Zabala was first again. At 15 miles another runner caught him. This time it was Lauri Virtanen, Finland's substitute for Nurmi. Virtanen tired as soon as he had the lead, quit the race. At 22 miles, Duncan MacLeod Wright, seasoned Scottish marathoner, passed Zabala and held the lead for two miles.

A crowd of 70,000 waiting in the stadium, where the Olympic torch flared enormously against a dark sky, heard a trumpet blast as the first runner came into the chute for the finish. They recognized Zabala, tired but still running strongly. A hundred yards behind him was Samuel Ferris of England. Armas Toivonen of Finland and Wright were in the stadium also by the time Zabala, a small solemn figure jogging steadily through an uproar of cheers and trumpets, reached the finish. It was the closest marathon in Olympic history and the fastest--2 hr., 31 min., 36 sec.

P: In the 100-kilometre bicycle race was Attilio Pavesi of Italy. On his handlebars he had a bowl of soup, a bucket of water. In a bib that hung from his shoulders were a dozen bananas, cinnamon buns, jam, cheese sandwiches, spaghetti. Around his neck were two spare tires. He won in 2 hr. 28 min.

P: Heavyweight catch-as-catch-can wrestling champion, after a three-day tournament, was Johan Richthoff, huge Swedish clergyman who won in 1928.

P: Foil teams of France, Italy and the U. S. fenced a three-way tie. When the U. S. was eliminated, France and Italy were still tied, with eight matches each. Judges gave France the title on points, 62 to 58.

P: In the first day's yacht-racing, Gilbert Gray of New Orleans in his Jupiter led a fleet of seven star-class sloops twice-around a six-mile triangle in 2 hr. 38 min. 42 sec.

Women. Of the 140 women contestants in the Xth Olympiad, by far the most spectacular was Mildred ("Babe") Didrikson of Dallas, Tex. The first event she won was the javelin throw with a world's record of 143 ft. 4 in. She explained that she would have thrown it further if it had not slipped out of her hand. In the 80-metre hurdles she set another world's record of 11.7 sec. Disgusted at not being allowed to compete in the discus throw (won by Lillian Copeland of the U. S.) and 100-metre dash [won by Stanislawa Walasiewicz (Stella Walsh) of Poland], she was further disgusted when Jean Shiley beat her in the high jump (5 ft. 5 1/4 in.). Babe Didrikson was disqualified for "diving."

When Mildred Didrikson was in her last year at high school a coach who saw her play basketball got her a job with Dallas Employers' Casualty Co. which sponsors a girls' basketball team called the Golden Cyclones. Cyclone Didrikson began to take an interest in track & field athletics. At the A. A. U. championships for women last month she won five championships, tied for another. Last week, lean, vehement, 21-year-old Babe Didrikson was hungrily contemplating further activities. Said she: "I expect our basketball team . . . to win the national championship. I'll be the high scorer. . . . My mind is set on winning a national golf championship. . . . I can outdrive most women golfers now. . . . I like all sports because I enjoy running, jumping and throwing things. Diversion? It's sewing. Yeh, boy, I design my own clothes, then they're made the way I want 'em. . . ."

* "Olympiad" used to mean the period of four years between Olympic Games. The Olympic Committee this year gave its sanction to the meaning created by usage--Olympiad: Olympic Games.

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