Olympic Cavalcade

THE MODERN OLYMPIADS Greek Prime Minister proved antagonistic and was with difficulty persuaded to authorize the Zappeion Comniittee to lend its support and aid to de Coubertin's proposal. The Zappeion Committee was then reconstituted by the Duke of Sparta, who appointed his brothers, Prince George and Prince Nicholas, as presidents of two sub-committees. Finance was still the prevailing impediment. A subscription list was therefore opened. In it Mons. George Averoff, a rich Greek merchant of Alexandria, promised a million drachma for the rebuilding of the ancient Stadium. The late John E. Sullivan, that great American authori!y upon the Games, has written-of that Stadip rp: "To the visitor from an athletic country, particularly America, the one thing that will be long remembered is the Stadium. Words can hardly describe the impnlssion it makes on one as he enters the gates. Tiers of marble seats go to the clouds. In size and dimen– sions it is unsurpassed, in form and construction it is unequalled. There is a grandeur about it that impresses one. Certainly there is no place. like it for the hqlding of the Olympic Games." _ _ It was, in po1nt of fact, modelle~ upon the dimensions of the originaJ · Stadium under the eagle eye of the late Charlie Perry, formerly groundsman to the London Athletic Club. It had, however, _the disadvantage that the track was exceedingly loose and the corners wer~ so sharp that it is saHthey ,~ were responsible for adding 3 seconds to the time for 400 metres, 4 seconds ~ to that for 8oo metres and 8 seconds for 1500 metres, but that was no fault of Perry's. He had to do with the same lay-out ·as the athletes of ancient Greece had to do with. · The.participatidn-of America in that first ofthe Modern Olympiads was rather-by a three-fold effort than l:5y a truly representative team. The U.S.A. team comprised Ellery H. Clark, a Harvard all=round athlete; Thomas P: Curtis, ]iurdler; Arthur. Blake, middle and long distance runner; James and -_ Sumner Paine, revolver shots; W. W. Hoyt, pole vaulte~; G.B. Williams, swimmer, and John Graham, the coach to the Boston A.A. To that team were added, at the last moment, Robert S. Garrett, captain of the Princeton track and field team, and James B. Connolly, ofHarvard, who had a flair for ath– letics generally, and for jumping in particular. Both went at their own expense and Connolly became the very first of the modern Olympic cham– p,ions. The Americans·literally swept the beard, taking nine _ track and tield ~vents to twQ by Great Britain and one by Greece. There were no events m Boxing, Cycling; Equestrianisll!, Rowing, Wrestling, Weight Lifting, Yachting or Winter Sports, and no events for women, but in Fencing Gravelotte, Franee, won the Foils (individuGll) and Georgiades, Greece, the Sabre (individual). Haghe, Hungary, _won the roo metres Swimming (Free Style); Halmay, Hungary, the 50 yards; Neumann, Austria, the 500 metres, and Hijos, Hu11gar_y, the r2oo metres. At :tawn Tennis, Boland, Ireland, took the Men's Singles and part:nered Traun, Germany, in the Doubles. There were no Teams events in either Footba11 or -Hockey.