Athletics of To-Day 1929

222 Athletics of To-day Holland (No. 2, Plate 31), with a jump of 50 ft. 9 ins., had eclipsed the British record made by D. Shanahan in 1908, while Levi Casey had raised the U.S.A. Championship record to 49 ft. 4! ins. In Great Britain alone there was not the slightest sign of improvement to be seen, and no competitions, other than those at the national and the three district champion– ships, were held. The meeting of such a wealth of talent was expected to produce a new world's record at Amsterdam. In point of fact the extraordinarily high Paris standard was not again reached. Mikio Oda sent the Japanese flag to the mast-head for the first time in Olympic history with a triple jump of 49ft. ro -} 3 ins., beating the American, Casey (49 ft. 9 ins.), the · Finn, Tuulos (49ft. 7 ins.), Nambu, Japan (49ft. 2! ins.), Toulikoura, Finland (48 ft. 2 3 ins.) and Jaervinen, Finland (48 ft. r in.). Neither Winter nor De Boer could find anything like their proper form. The hop, step, and jump is so closely related to the long jump that the reader who wishes to take it up should study Chapter XVI (The Long Jump) very carefully and train on the principles therein laid down. To his long jumping technique he must add the ability to take three giant strides of the greatest possible length. Despite the prowess of Bruneto and De Boer, both tall, heavily built men, there is no doubt that short, sturdy men, with very strong legs, like Ville Tuulos and Mikio Oda, make the best hop, step, and jumpers. Winter had the advantage of medium height, strong legs, and a very light body. The legs of the hop, step, and jumper must be even stronger than those of his brother, the long jumper, b cause a tremendous strain is imposed upon the knee joints on landing on solid ground after the hop and the step. Although this advice apparently contravenes something I have just said, the athlete is warned that each of the three progressive movements must be a " jump " and not really a "step" at all. The initial approach speed is mainly responsi– ble for the distance to be cleared, and the athlete should strive in each of the three jumps to force his body up and forward