Athletic Sports (extract)

Physical Characteristics of the Athlete The strengthof the back, legs, and fore­ arm are deficient, and the total strength is small for the total development. In looking at the chart as a whole, the striking points are the shortness of the body as compared with the total height, the great length of limbs, the large and deep chest, the well-developed calves and proportionally small thighs. To these points might be added the smallness of the bones as measured by their girth and di­ ameter. A person familiar with zoology and comparative anatomy, in selecting an animal for speed, would unhesitatingly choose one similarly constituted; for many of the points necessaryto the development of speed in animals are equally essentialin man. These, in a word, are the qualities possessed by the subject of the chart just described, who, though not a professional runner, has made the fastest time for cer­ tain distancesthat has as yetbeen recorded. That all the qualifications possessed by the subject must necessarily be possessed in the same degree by all runners who would equal his performances would be an idle statement. One might compensate for great length of limb by a greater devel­ opment of muscle, or for want of chest- capacity by a large supply of nervous 64