Athletics of To-Day 1929

260 Athletics of To-day the American hop finish and pulled out 206ft. in 1927. On his arrival in England he competed at an L.A.C. Meeting and produced 202ft. He asked me to criticise his style, and I did so. During the next week we worked together at Battersea Park, and he proved an intelligent pupil. I could see from the way things were shaping that a new British record was about due and had hopes of Olympic laurels for him. At the A.A.A. Championships he did well in the preliminary trials and asked for a tip for the final. I suggested that he should use more palm lift and keep his left shoulder up. He did both these things in his next throw, which was 222 ft. 9 ins., just over ro ft. better than Bela Szepes's British record made in 1927, and less than 7 feet behind the world's record of 229 ft. 3~ ins., established by the Finn, Eino PentilHi, at Viborg, Finland, October 8th, 1927. At the Olympic Games, 1928, no fewer than nine of the twenty-five competitors beat 200ft., but it was an all-Continen– tal final, with the world's record holder placed sixth and the British record holder seventh. E. H. Lundqvist, Sweden, with his very first throw, won the contest and broke Olympic record with a throw of 218 ft. 6! ins., then came B. Szepes, Hungary (No. 2, Plate 39 and No. 2, Plate 44), 214ft. rt ins., 0. Sunde, Norway, 209 ft. ro! ins., P. Liettu, Finland, 209 ft. 6! ins., B. Schlokat, Germany (No. 3, Plate 39), 208ft. o! in., and E. PentilHi, Finland (No. r, Plate 44), 207ft. 4~ ins. PentilHi, I feel, was extraordinarily unlucky, for he got in one perfect throw, which soared well over the box marking the 230 ft. distance, but he just touched the scratch line with his foot, and so was given a tt no-throw." He has an amazingly fast approach run and introduces two huge bounding strides at his check marks, the like of which I have never before s en. Javelin throwing, as the read r may know, tak s place from behind a 12 ft. scratch line marked upon the ground. The weapon is 8.5 ft. in length and must weigh not less than 8oo grammes (r.6lb.). If the reader finds that these weights do not correspond, that is not my fault; I give them as stated in the Rules Book of the International Amateur Athletic Federation.