Athletes in Action

sr I T TJJE pi turc of Paavo urmi, Finland vvhi h h:wc been chosen to illu trat thi hapter ha\ not been selected mer ly be au e urmi ha brok n most of the world' record , from I mile, O\'ered in 4 mins. IOg ecs. to the di tance of I I mile I 64 ) ds. ovcrcd in an hour, but rather bccau c urmi ha perfect d a tylc and stabili cd a y t m of running t time eh dule which too- ther ha\ revoluti ni ed all ur idea of di tancc-running te hniqu It has b en obje t d that the urmi arm-acti n, a portray d in our picture doe not allO\ f the elimination f ffort when the runner i oa ting >r striding. It i , further ont ndcd that no man arrying his arm a urmi foe· an produ 'a fini hing print again t a r ally trong fini h 'r. The an w r i that urmi's arm-a ti n i allied t > that >f the sprint r, in that his arm arc acting ontinually a a ontribut ry fa tor to tra tion that h needs no sprint, sin c hi lap · in a race arc run at such a on tant pced that hi oppon nt are never left with a print in th m during th la t lap, and that instead of having t hang from th middl -di tance running acti n to the print a ti n, t produ a finishing bur t a do runner u ing cYcry oth r t) le urmi imply a cl rate with th' am a tion he ha u cd throughout the rac . In Fig. I on th oppo it page, the omm nccm nt of a tride · upright carriage of th body, whi e "tremity of it f r" .1rd lean, the ·as arm arriage allmving for full c. p.msion of h t and lung', and nsequent d cp bre, thing. The low ·ring of th he 1 and light kn' -b nd "ill nsure pow rful lcg- dri\ and full leg-cxt ·n ·ion in the next . tridc.