Coaching and Care of Athletes

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MODERN RECORDS CorneliusJohnson, using Horine's conventional Western Roll style, and D . D. Albritton, using a new Straddle style of jump, both cleared 6ft. 9! ins., to become joint world's record holders. That is the figure officially passed by the International Amateur Athletic Federation. Just, however, as I spoke of the improvement in mile-running as being the most remarkable among track records, so I think that the improvement in pole-vaulting is the most surprising of all the field-events records. Up to the year I930, when L. T. Bond, Cambridge University, jumped first I2 ft. 4 ins. and then I2 ft. 6i ins., no British athlete had ever succeeded in vaulting higher than I2 ft., while only two athletes in the world had ex– ceeded I3 ft. They were both Americans-M. S. Wright, who in I9I2 cleared I3 ft. 2! ins., and R. A. Gardner, who in the same year achieved I3 ft. I in. In I936 F. R. Webster, of Cambridge University, became the first British athlete to clear I3 ft., when he tied for sixth place in the Olympic Games at I3 ft. It ins. In the same year a Russian-American, G. Varo:ff, vaulted I4 ft. 6! ins. In I937, I think I am right in saying, .four or more American athletes exceeded I4 ft. 7 ins., while the so-called 'Heavenly Twins,' Earle Meadows and William Sefton, both beat I4 ft. I I ins., and would probably have done better than I5 ft. but for the · fact that the standards would go no higher. There are also the weight men. From I909 to I928 the world,'s I6-lb. shot-putting record of 5 I ft. was held by the late Ralph Rose (Plate XI, Fig. 36), a gigantic American of 6 ft. st ins. q.nd weighing nearly 20 stone. At the Olympic Games at Amsterdam in I928 Rose's record was eclipsed by John Kuck, U.S.A., putting 52 ft. H in. This was considered a marvellous performance, but in I934J· Torrance (Plate XI, Fig. 37), an even bigger man than Rose, actually reached 57 ft. I in., which is the pres~nt world's record. Again, in pre-War days the world's discus-throwing recorel of I58 ft. II ins., established in I9I3 by A. Taipale, of Finland, was considered a wonderful achievement. To-day such a distance is not considered particularly outstanding, for W. Schri:ider, Germany (Plate XIV, Fig. 45), in I935 established a new world's record of I74 ft. 2t ins. · Then there are the javelin-throwers. In pre-War days any man who could beat I90 ft. was considered pheno:D?-enal, and the world's 23