Olympic Cavalcade

OLYMPIC CAYALCADE At 5000 metres, which he won in 14 mins. 31·2 secs., he was up agains-t Ritola at last, ErlingWide, the 1912 Stockholm veteran, J. L. Romig, U.S.A., E. Seppala, Finland, and·C. T. Clibbon, Great Britain. That was the or-der in which they finished, but the race_really lacked interest, for Nurmi, Ritola and Wide ran together for the greater part of the distance and when he judged the moment opportune Nurmi went right away from the others to win, apparently, as he liked. _ After such marvellous performances- on the track it is not surprising that in retrospect the rest of the performances of that day seem to fall rather flat. None the less they were Olympi~ triumphs__;md as such must be recorded. Fred Tootell, the big Bowdinboy, throwing 174ft. Io!in., won the Hammer Throwing title from M. J. McGrath, the Irish-Americ;an polic~man who had c.ompeted at London and Stockholm and threw 166 ft. 9! .in. The English representative from Oxford·University, M. C. Nokes, failed -to do him.self justic~ with a throw of r6o ft. 4i in., for in England previously he had approached the 180ft. mark, and again Scandinavia was well represented by E. Eriksson, Finland, and 0. Skolcl, Swe<len, who were placed 4th and 5th. - ~ ~ That day, too, was proved the outstanding advantage of taking very young pole vaulters to the Olympic Games to gain experience in the highest grade of competition there is. That year Charles Hoff, Norway, who held the world's record at 13ft. 9! in., could not compete owing to a damaged ankle, ancf in the event th~ -ad astrct' Californians, Glenn Graham of the ealifornia Technical High School, anti ri -ye?r-old Lee Barnes, from Holly– wood High School, tied for first place in the Pole Vault at 12 ft. u ' in. For the v;;~ult off the bar was raised half an inch; which Barnes cleared but Graham did !lot, while J. K. Brooker, of Michigan, after tying for 3rd place with H."Petersen, of Denmark, at 12 ft. 9! in., won that vault off and therefore America cleaned up also in that ~vent. ~ _ Friday:, n July, was a day of stunning .surprises produced in the 400 metres race. In On@ ·of the eliminating trials on. the Erevious aay, J. Irnbach, ofSwitzer– land, another nation which is coming to llie fore, had returned 48 secs. flat lo beat the former world's record of 48·2 s~es. made by Charley Reidpath at Stockholml.t;J. 1912, and on Friday morning the first semi-final saw Horatio M. M. Fitch, of the Chicago A.A., upsetting the new record-by re;turning 47"8 secs. Meanwhile, Guy Butfer, of Cambridge and_Great B~itain, had strained a muscle whieh would necessitate the bandaging of his thigh for the Final. Gre~t Britain had, however, great hopes, centred in Eric_ Lidaell, a Divinity student fr·om Edinburgh University, who had won th'e A.A.A. Championship and established an Engli:sh Champ£Gnship 100 ya~ds record of 9·'1 secs. - . , . In the Final, however, the late Eric Liddell, who died -during the war tn a concentration camp established by the Japanese, seemed to me to lead.frorn