Athletics of To-Day 1929

Throwing the Hammer 303 perseverance in hammer throwing, combined with close atten– tion to physical culture, he achieved the incredible distance, for so light a man, of over rso ft., using four turns in the 7 ft. circle. Given the weight of Flanagan, Nicholson, or McGrath, there is little doubt that he would have beaten 200 ft. for, as it was, he threw more than a foot in distance for every pound of his own light weight. Flaxman had two ruling passions– both governed by and calling for an extraordinary sense of rhythm-one was music and the other the types of sport requiring all the qualities of hardy manhood. This is a far less unusual combination of tastes with the heavy-weight field events men than might be imagined. He was an excel– lent violinist and no mean artist with pen and brush. At the Olympic Games, in rgo8, Flaxman represented Great Britain in the standing high jump, discus free style, discus Greek style, and javelin free style. A year or so later he was Sandow's show pupil in feats of strength and made light of such tricks as tearing a couple of packs of cards in half. He was showing considerable promise as a boxer and gymnast and had added the pole vault-in which he was English Champion in rgog-and shot putting to his other athletic events, but it was as a hammer thrower that he was beginning to make his mark. Day by day he would go down to Stamford Bridge from Baker Street, and there train steadily until lunch time. A pint of stout and a pound of steak furnished his midday meal, and then back he would go again to training, studying out every step in technique and adding new points to his style as he went along. From under 120 ft. he worked up to over 150 ft. with the hammer, and manywere the amusing incidentsofthosepre-War days. On one occasion, when Flaxman was throwing, there was an obstacle race in progress at the same time. One obstacle was a sort of rabbit hutch through which the com– petitors had to crawl. Just as laxman let drive with one of his big throws, a little white-faced rat of a fellow dived into the hutch ; as he came out on the other side the hammer crashed through it, completely v reeking the whole structure.