Olympic Cavalcade

CHAPTER XI VIITH OLYMPIAD, ANTWERP, BELGIUM, I920 IN I9I9 I was invalided home from Central Africa, where I had been on Service with the 2nd Battalion King's African Rifles, and arrived in time to attend the A.A.A. Championships of that year at Stamford Bridge, London. It was a dull day and the tra:ck was heavy after recent rain, but performances were good on the whole and there was a perfect spate of new talent for one to consider. W. A. Hill, Surrey A.C., took both the dashes; Guy Butler, a big, upstanding, but terribly nervous lad from Trinity College, Cambridge, beat N. Engdahl, of Sweden, in 49·8 secs. at 440 yards. Then came a veteran of pre-war days, who had served throughout the war. This was A. G. Hill (Poly. H.), who had won many cross-country titles pre-war, and in 1910 the A.A.A. Four Miles Track Championship; that latter title went to E. Back– man, Sweden, in I919, but at 88o yards and One Mile, Hill, running in well– balanced form and returning fast times, defeated two of Sweden's Olympic hopes in A. Bolin and S. Lundgren. In the Two Miles Walk the great Dane, G. Rasmussen, world record holder, was defeated in 14 mins. I8·4 secs. by R. Bridge. In the Steeplechase, Percy Hodge, Surrey A.C., made his amazing debut, lost a shoe at the water jump, calmly put -it on again, overtook his field and won in II mins. 53.6 secs. The High Hurdles went to a New Zealand officer, not yet demobilized, H. E. Wilson, and G. H. Gray, Salford H., took the 440 yards Intermediate Hurdles, just beating 6o secs. Howard Baker, who had injured an ankle at sea during the war, showed some return of former style by beating G. Hogstrom, Sweden, and Tim Carroll, Ireland, at 5 ft. I 1 in. in the High Jump. That was the extent of our British victories, except the One Mile Relay, won by the Polytechnic Harriers, including Hill and the West Indiafi sprinter, H. F. V. Edward, whom I had marked down as a very hopeful prospect for Olympic honours in 1920. The Swedes, whom we had been warned had made great progress during the war, throughout which their neu~rality was preserved, won the Four Miles, took 2nd places . in the Half and One Mile races, and in the High Jump, and won also the Long Jum.p, at 23 ft. 6! in.; the Pole Vault at 1I· ft.; Weight Put at 42 ft. 7 in., and Throwing the Hammer at 144ft. 4 in. - Apart from the impression made upon me by the sprinting of Edward, the powerful quarter mi.ling of Guy Butler and the walking of Bridge, who had beaten a world record holder, my hopes for Olympic victories by British athletes were fixed upon Hodge, the indomitable steeplechaser, A. G. Hill at the Middle Distances, and the combination of the English and Irishmen, 109