Olympic Cavalcade

SEVENTH OLYMPIAD, ANTWERP, BELGIUM, 1920 1 I7 I49 ft. I If in., took the 6th position from N. Linde, the other Swede, who had reached 146ft. 3t in. in the preliminaries. There was, however, a rather bad disappointment for U.S.A., Sweden and France at I500 metres. America had the great Joie Ray for that race; Sweden their almost unbeatable survival from Stockolm, Erling Wide; and Franee A. Audinet and A. Burtin, who had that year won the English Mile in 4 mins. 23 secs. That race was, in fact, an English triumph with A. G. Hill finishing Ist in 4 mins. I·8 secS'., not far ahead of the great Cambridge University runner, P. J. Baker, who had done so much to enable A. N. S. Jackson to establish the Olympic record of 3 mins. 56·8 secs. at Stockholm in 1912. Shields, of U.S.A., was 3rd and V. Wohralik, of Czechoslovakia, 4th. Hill, it should be remembered, was at that time 36 years of age, had served all through the First World War, to which Philip Baker had taken a Friends' Ambulance, so that it was indeed a triumph for the older generation of pretty tough British stock. Hill thus became one of the three ·double winners at Antwerp, a great feat and, considering his age and service, one of the outstanding performances of athletic history; nor would I say that the feat of P. J. Baker, as his runner-up, was of much less merit. The latter had, indeed, staged one of the greatest athletic come-backs on r€cord. · The sixth day of competition, Friday; 20 August, saw Frank Foss, U.S.A., winner of the Olympic Pole Vault, soaring to victory over H. Petersen, of Denmark, and E. E. Myers (U.S.A.), who each negotiated 12ft. l~ in., after which Foss continued by vaulting I 3 ft. 5 in. to eclipse the World record of 13ft. 2! in. made by his compatriot, M. S. Wright, Boston A.A.A., some time previously. Again the Scandinavian countries were represented by men who stood out prominently at heights at which their compatriots and even Englishmen would have smiled at Berlin in 1936. This was the day, too, when 'Babe' McDonald came into his own in that really strong-man event, Slinging the 56-lb. Weight, which had ~ppeared but once before in an Olympic programme at St. Louis, U.S.A., m 1904, when it was won by E. Desmarteau, Canada, at 34ft. 4 in. McDonald won at 37ft. from P. Ryan, who was approximately a foot short, and C. Lindh, Sweden, who was beaten by fully 3 ft. MacDiarmid, Canada, M. Svenen, Sweden, and J. Pettersen, Finland, were also among the six placings. The Stars and Stripes were sent to the victory mast-head also by Alien Woodri,ng, the Navy athlete, who had trained so industriously that he was forced to win, in borrowed shoes, the 200 metres Final from Paddock, U.S.A., Edward, G.B., .Loren Murchison, U.S.A., G. Davidson, New Zealand, and J. Oosterlak; the South African flyer, in 22 secs. / That race was, indeed, a trag~dy for Edward, the West Indian sprinter representing Great Britain. In the roo metres, won by Charley Paddock, · U.S.A., from M. M. Kirksey, U.S.A., in ro.8 secs., Edward finished 3rd,