Athletics and Football (extract)

JUMPING, WEIGHT-PUTTING, ETC. 153 but jumped in exactlythe same style. Malone,whowas also a finesprinter, has since earned a great reputation as a professional runner in Australia. Since then an Irishman, J. Purcell, has wonour championship,jumping in exactlythe same style,being able to clear over 22 feet. In fact there is no doubt that there is an Irish style of long jumping which most of the English jumpers are physically unable to imitate. Experience may almost be said to show that in natural ' springiness' the Celtic muscleis superior to the English. WEIGHT-PUTTING. At first sight it wouldseem that jumpingand heavy-weight throwingwere the very opposite poles of athletic sport, but ex­ perience shows this to be very far from the truth, and in many cases the championat weight-putting or hammer-throwingwillbe found to be either an active or a retired jumper. The truth is that both strength and elasticityofmuscle are required for weight- putting and hammer-throwing,and it is therefore not hard to understand why both these latter competitions are morenatural to, and are more practised by, the Celts ofScotland and Ireland than by the English. Both competitions,however, form part of the regular programmeof an Englishathletic fixture,and are included at the Championshipand Inter-'Varsity meetings. The rough-and-ready experiences of the pioneers of the athletic movement decided that a 16-lb. weight and a 16-Ib. hammer would give the best test ofan athlete's ability to mani­ pulate a heavyweight; at the present day, therefore, in England nearly all the weight-putting competitions are with a 16-lb. weight, whichis put 'without follow' froma 7-footsquare. In Ireland, Scotland, and America, however, the putting, hurling, or slingingof heavierweights is often practised. In the present work we think it better to confine ourselves to noticing the English practiceof the sport alone. The English rule for the sport of weight-puttingas formu-