Olympic Cavalcade

FOREWORD by SIR HAROLD BOWDEN, BT., G.B.E. IN these days of scientificdi,scovery; ·research and concentration on all.sorts of subjects, by specialists, from medicine to bombs, from the cradle to the grave, it is·not (o be w_onclered at that; in the world of athl~~cs,~we have an outstanding authority, who, an athlete himself in younger days, llas devoted a lifetime in specializin·g_o~n eyerything appertaini:p.g to athletic records and history; from the earliest days of the Olympic Games in Greece, 700 years B.c. to qur present-day contests. · "' - · LtA::0lonel F. A. M. Webster is indeed- a_·walking encyclopaedia of athletiCs-quite apart from his pracfica1 and wide knowledge of the art of training, and how to compete wi:_tli ·success -in the various events that corn-· prise our modern athletic meetings. In perusing Lt.-Colonel Webster's- latest book, Olympic Cavalcade, I _ marvel at the amount ·of detailed information that it contains. It-is, indeed, a complete work of reference that will stand for years to come. The pages devoted to the story ofthe Olympic Games in Ancient Greece are indeed interesting reading, and it makes one wonder how these sturdy athletes of ~500 years -ago would ·have fared in corppetition, i_n our d,<!Y, against such.- men as" Paavo Nu_rmi, Wooderson, Burghley, Tolan, Anderson, Jesse Owens ana· many- others too numerous to mention._ - No less interesting is .the description of the opening ceremony of the · Games by Adolf Hitler in 1936 at Berl-in, with all the pomp, pageantry, showmanship and dramatic effects of-which the Fiihrer and· his satellites were such pasf-mastei's, sic transit gloria ml_!ndi. ~ · _- There were no stop-watches in the1lays.ofAncient Greece, in fact most - pro_bably.no method of Jiming at all, (;!nd presumably we qm nave no ·idea "' how fast .those ancient·athletes caul~ ~run, or how far they could throw the discus or the_javelin. I think, -howeve;:, it is fair to.. suppose ~at with our _modern and concerttrated training methods, those ~reeks of a!}cient days _ would not have stood. a chance in our _Olympic GaJfieS. _ - _ Records are made ·to be b_roken, and a perusal of !he records of tfie revived Olympic Games, from the _first in Athens-1896 to Berlin 1936, will show how times and distances. have in succession been beaten· again and ~ai~ . ~ -- The'margin left for further records· is obviously very small, for surely there must _be a limit to human effort and endurance, although, as I have said, records yeafby year are being broken. - ' 9