Athletics of To-Day 1929

The Growth of Modern Athletics 2r The progress of Australia and New Zealand may be taken as typical of the growth of athletics throughout the Empire overseas. The sport in both countries is now governed by the A.A.U. of Australia and New Zealand, but prior to the formation of the Union three Australian Championship Meet– ings were held under an agreement made between the New South Wales, New Zealand, and Victoria Associations. The first championship meeting took place on the Melbourne Cricket Ground in r8g3. In connection with the Championship Meeting of r897 at Sydney a conference was held, at which the present A.A.U. of Australia and New Zealand was formed, but the rules for com– petition were not drawn up and passed until two years later, when a further conference took place at Brisbane. Space will not permit of my dealing with the historical development of every nation, and I think, therefore, that a short discussion on the progress of Sweden must serve as representative of athletic development throughout Scandinavia and the continent of Europe in general. Athletic competitions and games, such as running, jumping, javelin-throwing, wrestling, ski-ing, swimming, etc., have formed a part of Swedish life since the days of the Vikings, at which period the Northern Games provided a counterpart to the Greek Olympiad, and may even have gone as far back as to be considered contemporaneous with the Tailtin ames. During the seventeenth century, and probably earlier, the standard of physical fitness in Swed n c rtainly stood high, but with the end of the period of Swedish political greatness, a general d cline in the desire for physical efficiency was clearly evid need. Early in the eighteenth century er Henrik Ling laid the foundation of a common-sense system of physical training in the Swedish schools, but the cult did not spread to the adult population until the modern athletic movement made its way into Sweden in r88o. From that year athletic sports have progressed enormously in Sweden, until they have now become