Athletics of To-Day 1929

Thro,ving the Hammer 309 Ryan, had he been afforded such expert coaching as is available in America, or even if he had been given an adequate amount of competition. But Nokes has had to work out his own salvation, absolutely unaided by tuition ; and his chances of competition have been almost entirely confined to championship contests. So far as one can judge, a new generation of hammer throwers is growing up in Ireland, but Scotland is at a standstill, and the sport is going back in America. Italy, and other countries, may produce an odd outstanding thrower, as England has done, in laxman and Nokes, but I fancy it is to Sweden, Finland, or possibly Japan, that we must look to produce the next world's record breaker. Sweden has come on very fast, Finland is learning quickly, and no man living dare prophesy about the probable future of Japan, having regard to the amazing athletic progress made in the Far Eastern country since the War. Hammer throwing more than any other event calls for height, weight, and an exceptionally fine physique, but all these admir– able physical attributes will avail a man nothing if he has not the mentality to understand the technique of the event, and that unbounded patience and perseverance which alone will allow him to practise long enough to build up a perfect style. Flanagan showed these qualities when he devoted three years to gaining steadiness in throwing at the end of three, instead of two, turns. Flaxman mastered the fourth turn with perfect control in delivery, because he devoted as much time in spring and summer to the sport as he spent hours a day in the winter in playing his fiddle, and these qualities of patience and dogged perseverance the Scandinavians and Japanese exhibit to a marked degree. The following figures will interest those who appreciate the mathematics of athletics, for they go far to prove my contention that hammer throwing is, ipso facto, a sport for a big, strong fellow. The late Major R. V. Mostyn, Flaxman and I worked out the calculations in rgr4, as a test of how far the theory of dynamics enters into athletics. We took for our purpose Flaxman's throw of rso ft. made at the end of four turns