Athletics of To-Day 1929

Athletics of To-day thrown as far, represented Great Britain at the Games in the following July. Of these six Britishers, W. E. B. Henderson and A. E. Flaxman alone caught on to the trick of throwing as it was practised by the best of the foreigners. Portraits and action photographs of these two great throwers illustrate this chapter. In rgro the Amateur Field Events Association was formed under the presidency of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and controlled certain field events championships until they were taken over by the A.A.A. in 1914. W. E. B. Henderson took the first title in rgrr at ro6 ft. rr ins. and retained it in rgr2, 128 ft. 4! ins., and 1913, 117 ft. o ins. On each occasion Flaxman proved himself a very good second. The British native record made by Henderson in rgr2 still stands unbroken, and I shall never forget the occasion of its being made. The championship was held on a small sports ground at Mortlake-long since, alas, covered with pretentious villas !-and Flaxman was pressing his old rival pretty hard, when Henderson suddenly produced a beauty. The discus went sailing through the air, over the enclosure ropes, and clean between the faces of two babies seated at either end of a twin pram. That throw was never ap– proached until A. E. Flaxman reached 128 ft. rt ins. at the sports of the 59th North Midland Division at St. Albans in rgrs. It says much, incidentally, for Henderson's fitness that he won the English (Native) A.A.A. Championship of 1923. On that occasion it fell to my lot to play the part of runner-up, Flaxman having fallen on the Somme in July, rgr6. At the fifth Olympiad held at Stockholm in 1912, Henderson was our only British representative, but by this time the Scandinavians had really got going, and although Sheridan had touched his high-water mark, 141 ft. 8! ins. in rgrr, America had found him a fine successor in J. Duncan, who threw r56 ft. ri ins. in May, rgr2. On this form it appeared highly improbable that Duncan could be beaten at Stockholm a few months later. There were, however, rumours running round Europe, and reaching even uninterested England, of a huge and