Olympic Cavalcade

120 OLYMPIC CAVALCADE When Lovland returned to the capital of his own country the Govern– ment presented him with a victory group of young athletes surrounding a venerable old performer, and Lovland, moreover, became director of Norwegian athletic sport. Outside the Athletic Stadium there were all sorts of contests going on to 0ccupy our time in the evening when we were not telephoning our reports to London or putting them into writing for weekly assignments. In this connection I shall alwq.ys remember a remark made by one of the American correspondents with whom I spent much time. "What are you going to do tonight, John?" I queried. "Guess 1'11 go down to see them slippery slugs agin," was the answer I got. Seeking to elucidate the mystery of the 'slippery slugs', I then discovered that he had spent the last two evenings watching the heaving and tossing of the sweating bodies of the Greco-Roman wrestlers in the small hall where all the wrestling took place. In the Catch-as-Catch-Can style, the American wrestlers and some of the British enjoyed quite a lot of success, U.S.A. scoring 9! points, Finland 8, Sweden 5!, Switze_rland 5, and Great Britain 2. In the Greco-Roman style, however, Scandinavia practically swept the board. On the final reckoning, Finland scored 19 points, Sweden 7, Denmark 3 and Norway I. The Finns, many of them now tough old men whom I have talked with at the big 1947 Sports Festival in Finland, still take the greatest possible interest in .everything that goes on in sport. Another amusing recreation was to watch the strong men weight-lifters at their heavy work, which seemed to be fairly evenly divided among the Belgians, Estonians, Swiss, Italians, Swedes and Frenchmen. I cannot remember a single American or Englishman taking part in that section of - the programme. There was an amusing story told of the Veledrome, wherein the cycling races were held. It was said that in the 160 kilometres Team race, won by France in 19 hrs. 16 mins. 43"4 secs. from Sweden, 19 hrs. 23 mins. 10 secs., and Belgium, 19 hrs. 28 mins. 44·4 secs., an anxious and aged Belgian mother, seeing a foreigner forging ahead of her son, leaned over the rails and pushed the stem of her umbrella between the spokes of the bicycle ridden by the man who seemed to be threatening the success of her son, but I do not vouch for the truth of that story. Peeters, Holland, won the woo metres Cycling race from Johnson and Ryan of England; Ryan and Lance, England, in partnership, took the 2000 metres Tandem race from South Africa and Holland, and Italy the 4000 metres Tearn race from England and South Africa on a protest that one of the English riders dismounted, thus causing interference with riders passing him. This protest was allowed and the race given to Italy. Henry George, of Belgium, won the 50 kilometres race from C. A. Alden, England.