Coaching and Care of Athletes

COACHING AND CARE OF ATHLETES scale at a weight which increased from I2 stone IO lb . when he entered competition in I906 to 17 stone I2 lb., when he made his world's record of I89 ft. 6! ins. in 19I3. This record was never broken by either an amateur or a professional until I937, in which . year, Dr O'Callaghan, of Tipperary, threw a r6-lb. hammer I98 ft. 8! ins . in competition, which was not, however, rec.ognized as a world's record, as the Irish governing body was · not at that time affiliated to the International Amateur Athletic Federation. O'Callaghan, who was born at Kanturk, County Cork, in I905, stands 6ft. I in. in height and weighs from I6 to I 7 stone. He has also jumped 6 ft. 5 ins. in the Western Roll style. In 1928 he took the Olympic title at r68 ft. 7! ins., retained it in 1932 at 176 ft. IIfr ins., and also beat I84 ft. for a European record. In I936 K. Rein, Germany, took the Olympic title at I85 ft. 5 ins. for a new Olympic and European record, increasing the latter in I937 to I87 ft. 8! ins. It says much for the way Con– tinental athletes have improved that in the I936 Olympic Games Germany took the first, second, and seventh places, with Sweden · third and twelfth and Finland fourth, tenth, and eleventh; ___ America thus had to be content with fifth, sixth, and ninth places. Plate LVI, Fig. 182, shows what a magnificent specimen of manhood is this German, K. Rein, who won, the Olympic title. Only very few small men have succeeded as hammer-throwers, the notable exception being the late A. E. Flaxman, of England, who stood 5 ft. 9 ins., weighed less than I I stone, and, in beating ISO ft., threw more than a foot in distance for every pound of his own weight. Incidentally, he was so skilful that he succeeded in making four turns within the space of a 7-ft. circle. Before going further a word should perhaps be said as to the specification of the so-called hammer. Present-day rules require that The head of the hammer shall be of lead, or a brass shell filled with lead, or cast-grey iron, and spherical in shape. The handle shall be a single unbroken and straigh tlength of spring steel wire not less than fr in. in diameter, or No. 36 piano wire, r\ in. in diameter. The handle may be looped at one or both ends by means of attachment. The grip may be either of single- or double-loop construction, but must be rigid and without hinging joints of any kind. The handle shall be connected to the head by means of a 420