Olympic Cavalcade

THE FIRST HIATUS 103 Africa, and Er.nie Hjertb~rg, who li.ad done so much for Sweden at the 1912- Games, had been anxious to come to England, -but had been turned down, and had again taken up his c!_uties as coach to the Swedish team for the VIth Olympiad. ~ ~ , · _ · The Gennan Rowing Association had COf!vened an International Row– ing Olympic Congress -to be held at Frankfurt-on-th~-Main with a view to drawi11g up an Olympic Rowing progratnme"; which would remain permanent for all futu-re Cele?radons_of the Games. · · . ~ -,;:; Tpen came the bombshell. Germany marche_d into Bdgium and the war was on. Of the men of ours who fell I can think: immediately of Wy:ndham Halswell, the 400 metres 1908 champion;-A. -E. Flax-man and H. _S. 0. Ash-– ington, both great.a}l-rounders; and of the_hurdlers, Cubit!, Kerineth Fow~11 and 'Twiggy' Anderson, the ·last named who had so myfortunately fallen in the High Hurdles Final at Stockholm, through landing -after_ hurdle clearance with his foot in a previous sprinter's starting hole, which remained unfilled in from -an earlier contest. _ - Great Britain then losta great·d1ance-by-n<tt taking on Hjef!:b~rg when he · was anxious to c·ome to u;; 3 and ~not maklng better use of -the: late · Sam Mussabini, -who was undmiptedly the J__oye-n, q(British .coq,ches -at:ld ~ould have been op. a parallel wi.th the great Ir_ish-American c€Jach, the,late Michael Murphy, had he 15een given the opportunity ofdoing for P:nghind what he did for the l?olyte€hnic-Harrie-rs. Jie had an. analytical brain; the -coaChing eye and the genius of a ~dentist or"psychiatristJor analysing what was g0ing· em in the body'.or tl: e. brain of an a_thl~te. -Eor e:JCample, he k.n·ew nothi11g ;_ whatsoever aboutj~velin -tht:9wing,·-:fmt he··had seen Lemm.i~g of-Swedf'tn, ~ Jonni Myrra and s·aaristo of Finland in_ aGtion .during the- VtH Olyrnj{i:c __ - ,~ Games at Stoeklwlm-;._,tn 19"12. He was not so-mucl} inrerest~Cl i] tHeir ~ve~t r- "":– as he ·was in the : sprinting _of~A:pplegarfh, D'Arcy, Ma~intqsH and 'Jacobs, '"" . who ha a beaten.- Sweden i~ thd1nql of the :.:j.OO metres -relay;;the -i 5.oo metres running of Jackson -and _Bq,ker, and the gqmd form of~th(British soldier, ~ Sergeant G. W. HuJsQn, ~who had run 3rd ~t- )OOQ metres-to '((olehmainerr and Jean f!ouin, only to' be rkilled. during the ::.coining war. Ye_t MlJ.s_s(!bini -- ~ had obvigusly r~mark:ed- and ret~ined a di-stinct impressio~~ of th~ f2 rm and method of t1le javelin throwers, to which, at that tip.e, he nad paid po ; particular attention. - · """' - - _' I express this opi~ion,-:fQr when, ,preceding the jelecticins fb'i: the -19:24· ~ Olympiad at Paris, a.former English nativ~ champio!'J., who had, after beipg invalidea from the Army, regain~d his, title=, We!'J.f fo him for advice and help,-Olct Sam watched him thr()w~ set up ·a cinematograph camera, t<?_ok motion pktures .of his action from ?H angle_~, tEen supplied hi!TI with a neat little set of thumb-nail sketches_and ~e~-him.on to chop ·'Y_o9p -with a,.long-· s?afted axe, whieh nad tg b<it us·ecl w1th ·bot-h ~~s! ~H<:<then~ gay~Jiim a ~ky ~- ~ _ hne as a sighting mark, 'ang .the atblete in-ques.tion ·was very soqn thrQwing 50ft. f<1rther than his pt:evieus Best djstanee. That:.,he did no~m!lke tire team ~; ... - .. ..... ~ """::. ~-" -