Coaching and Care of Athletes

COACHING AND CARE OF ATHLETES was first held in r8g3, and won by E. B. Bloss at 48 ft. 6 ins., but no further American championship was held until rgo6, when F.]. O'Connell took the title at 45 ft. 3! ins. The event has never attained any great degree of popularity either in England or America, which is a pity, since it provides excellent training for the broad jump and a number of other events. · As I have said, supremacy in the hop, step, andjump belonged exclusively to Irishmen for untold generations. Their pre-eminence was first challenged by Meyer Prinstein, Syracuse University, U.S.A., who won the Olympic titles in rgoo (47 ft. 4i ins.) and 1904 (47 ft.), but the Irish regained their position through P. ]. O'Connor and Con Leahy, who took the first two places at the Hellenic Festival in rgo6, and the Ahearne brothers. Scandinavian athletes, who have a particular flair for this event, maintained pre-eminence during the next two Olympic generations, but world dominance has now passed to the Japanese, with Australia occa– sionally producing such great performers as Winter and Metcalfe. The best of the Irish were tall, slim men, the Scandinavians much shorter, with light bodies and very strong legs, whereas Oda and Nambu are of the diminutive, very fast sprinter type. Tajima is rather tall and very thin, but Harada is a well and strongly built athlete. Despite Tajima's success, the opinion is held in coaching circles that a man of 5 ft. 8 ins. to 5 ft. ro ins., with a light, str,ong body and very strong legs, represents the best type event, on a2count for this of the strain imposed on the athlete's lower limbs b~ landing on one foot on cinders in the hop and step phases of the triple effort. Comparative performances for various classes of champion– ships held in England, in international matches, and at the Olympic Games are as follows: Public Schools All universities . Individual counties Northern District . Midland Distrih . Southern District . English A.A.A. International matches Olympic Games . The event was probably designated FT. INS. 39 IQ 42 4 40 7 4I 9 46 IQ so 7·P the hop, step, and jump 1 At the Olympic Games in I936 Tajima, Japan, won at 52 ft. 5t ins., one other man beat 51 ft~, two others 50ft., two others 49ft. 5 ins., three others 48ft:, and three others did better than 47 ft. Io ins. 374