Athletics and Football (extract)

J48 ATHLETICS even more marked than it has been withhigh jumping,and it seems almost absurd to us nowadays, when almost everyfair sprinter can clear 20 feet, to know that up to 1870 every cham­ pionship waswon witha leap of less than 20feet. 1he truth is that it was not till some years after sports had been instituted that the value of speed as a factor in long jumpingwas dis­ covered. The old jumper took a short run and a big spring , the modern long-jumper starts fifty yards from the take-off, sprints up as hard as he can, and is goinghis hardest when he takes his leap. The result is that the mere impetus takes him the extra foot or two over the ground by which the moderns excel their predecessors. In practising, therefore, for the long jump the athlete must prepare himself in much the same way as the high-jumperand sprinter, taking care not to get stiff. There must also be a constant and assiduous practice in jumping,as the main ele­ ment of success is to get a good take-off at full speed from the right spot, and this is much easier said than done. Indeed, it is the commonest thing, even in championship and other first-classcompetitions, to see the competitors ' muff' their take­ off, or sometimes take-off a foot before the line, and so be credited with having jumped a foot less than they have actually covered. The theory upon which the rules of long jumpingappears to be founded is that the jumper is clearing a river or a pit. Thus a board is placed flat with the ground, or a line marked, and the jump is measured from the starting-line. The ground after the line should be hollowed out, so as to make it im­ possible for the jumper, if he over-run the line, to get a jump at all. If he fall back after alighting from his jump, the jump is lost; and the distance is, of course, measured from the taking-offline to the first part where the hindmost heel touches the ground upon alighting. We have said before that it is no uncommon matter to find a sprinter clearing his 19 or 20 feet, not really because he is a born jumper, but simplyfrom his pace, and from his