A Time for Lions?

The sight of English Runner Jim Peters' collapse in the last quarter-mile of the marathon at the British Empire Games (TIME, Aug. 16) moved many spectators to indignant comment. None used sharper words than the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Columnist Emmett Watson.

"Some say Peters collapsed twelve times," wrote Watson. "I counted seven times, not noting the moments when he half-rose, then fell back again . . . [Peters] had no control over his body. He pulled himself along on his bottom, then crawled on his hands and knees . . . What he was doing had nothing to do with sport or competition . . . I say it would be impossible to libel that group of badge-wearing sadists who allowed Peters to make a spectacle of himself on that track.

"No prizefighter would ever be subjected to that. But they subjected Peters --those stupidly cruel, dense, gutless amateurs crouched on the sidelines, egging him to get up, to finish . . . you can make it . . . you can win. Win what?

"One man, a resident of Canada, said later: 'It was horrible. I expected any moment they would call out the lions.'

"They wouldn't call out the lions. Too many officials were on the field."

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