Coaching and Care of Athletes

COACHING AND CARE OF ATHLETES we find a difference of only 2·8 secs. between his running and hurdling times. This small difference is almost incredible when one remembers that the difference is approximately 2 secs. at half the distance over hurdles that are 6 ins. lower in height. One can understand, on account of the lowness of the 2 ft. 6 ins. hurdles offering so little interruption to the sprinting action, the slight difference of 2 secs. between running and hurdling time at 220 yds; but the interposition of ten 3-ft. hurdles in such a gruelling race as the 440 yds. or 400 metres adds tremendously to the fatigue factor, because each obstacle must naturally interrupt the rhythm of the running action, to say nothing of the additional physical effort that is called for in effecting hurdle clearance. In the foregoing circumstances a 5 secs. margin of difference in running and hurdling time would not seem unreasonabl~ in the case of the intermediate hurdles. It appears obvious, on the other hand, that only the closer correlation of fast running and hurdling times will produce a yet more wonderful wor,ld's record, if, indeed, any further advance in record-breaking is still possible. But is it? In I932 Robert Tisdall's Olympic 400 metres hurdle victory in 5I·8 secs. staggered the athletic world as much as, if not more.than, Tom Hampson's feat in becoming the first human being to beat I min. 50 secs. for 8oo metres on the flat. Since the Olympic Games were held at Los Angeles in 1932 Glen Hardin, U.S.A., who was runner-up to Tisdall in 52 secs., has reduced the w0rld's 400 metres hurdles record to 50·6 secs. This he did at Stockholm on July 26, I 934, and .not, be it noted, on a super-fast track in the athletically ideal climate of California. The Finns have produced a Scoring Table for track and field events, which gives mathematically correct comparative values for all performances. The world's shot-putting record of 57 ft. I in., made by Jack Torrance, U.S.A., at Oslo, Norway, on August 5, 1934, ranks as the best world's record, and to equal it in points value the intermediate hurdler will have to produce a time of 49! secs. This .I do not regard as being by any means an im– probability. My optimism is based, inter alia, upon the experience I gained in training J. Simpson, of Manchester Univ~rsity, England, to win the World Students' Championship 400 metres hurdles at Darm– stadt, Germany, in 1930. Simpson stands 6 ft. 3 ins., has a leg 3IO J