Athletics (British Sports Library)

40 ATHLETICS back upsets the whole rhythm of movement, turns you from the shortest path, which is the direct line between any two given points, and also breaks the evenness of the striding (Sketch 6, except c). Finally, the good finisher, according to Mr. Mussabini, maintains his long striding to the end, and in the last stride goes down to the tape with head and chest thrown as far forward as possible (Sketch 6, c). In the opinion of many people it was this finish and the ability to come out of his holes quickly at the crack of the pistol that enabled Abrahams to win the 100 Metres at the Olympic Games at Paris in 1924. At the other extreme of the sprinter's technique we find most of the Americans, headed by Charles Paddock, Olympic 100 Metres champion in 1920 and 200 Metres winner in 1924, who has also to his credit a whole batch of world's records. To watch Paddock at work is to behold a perfect piece of human mechanism, progressing "mechanically." His body seems to remain absolutely still from the hips upwards, his arms punch hard up and down at his sides, swinging straight forward and back, but his legs shoot out in front of him in high stepping fashion with the rhythmic exactitude engendered by long practice. In what we will, for the sake of convenience, call "Paddock's Style," the arm movement requires the