Olympic Cavalcade

SEVENTH OLYMPIAD, ANTWERP, BELGIUM, 1920 I 13 writer-but Paddock kept the field waiti-ng. He was highly strung and as nervous as a race-horse. He went through his usual rites of knocking on wood as an insurance against bad luck. He was fussy about the construction of his starting holes, but finally got settled. The men went to their marks and.got set, but as the starter tensed him– self to pull the trigger a Belgian marksman cried out that someone had his fingers over the starting line. Edward, Ali Khan and Murchison, thinking that all the runners vyould reset, relaxed and were actually on their knees when the pistol cr.acked. Paddock won in 10·8 secs, the three victims having lost at least a couple of yards through the mistake at the start. Ali Khan, France, who was 4th, lodged a protest, which was supported by Britain, but the Committee which met that evening decided that the .race must stand. The Pentathlon also took place that afternoon. Great Britain was unrepre– sented and America could not get within hailing distance of Lehtonen, of Finland, who won with 14 points, 7 less than Bie, Norway, had scored in 1912. Lehtonen's performances were Long Jump, 21 ft. 9 in.; Javelin, 179ft. 4! in.; 2_oo metres, 23 secs.; Discus, II3 ft. 7! in.; 1500 metres, 4 mins. 40·2 secs. Dick Landon, a fair-haired, bespectacled lad from New York A.C., who looked better suited for a schoolmaster, won the High Jump on the Tuesday with a new Olympic record of 6ft. 4·2 in. Baker and Carroll of the British team did not fulfil expectations. Meanwhile, Philip Baker, C.U.A.C., who had run so well at Stockholm and served right through the war, had staged, perhaps, the most sensational come-back in athletic history when he won his way into the Final of the 1500 metres. There had been trouble on the tennis court, where the game between Gordon-Lowe (G:B.) and the Greek player Zerl€mdi had to be adjourned when Gordon-Lowe stooq 14-I2l 0 , owing to the Umpire being exhausted. When a fresh Umpire was found the ball boys had deserted, so the game was postponed to the afternoon, when Lowe won. That Tuesday afternoon, too, the 8oo metres Final was decided, but Bevil Rudd, whom Keene Fitzpatrick also called the greatest middle distance runner in the world, when leading into the home stretch, put his foot into a · soft spot, sustained a bad wrench to the ankle and fought his way to the finish. He was passed by Aibert Hill, G.B., and the Philadelphia youngster, Earl Eby, who had apologized after bumping him slightly on passing, but he did manage to finish 3rd to the 36-year-old war veteran, Albert Hill. That day ended with the U.S.A. team being practically dragged all over and around Antwerp by the hefty team of policemen representing Great Britain in the Tug-of-War. Nothing I have said, however, must be allowed to detract from the running of the 5000 metres race that day. The victor, in 14 mins. 55·6 secs., was J. Guillemot, a French war victim of gassing. But he was a jolly, care– free lad was Guillemot, and the man he ran against and defeated was . presently to be the great Phantom Finn, Paavo Nurmi. Guillemot beat H