Olympic Cavalcade

THE MODERN OLYMPIADS tells us, although the events do not appear to be entirely contained in the records and results prepared by H. M. Abrahams for the Official Report of the Xlth Olympiad at Berlin in 1936, that at Athens in 1896 "Franc:e was victorious in the cycle races and in fencing; ·Germany easily won the Gymnastic competition. Hungary's wreaths were gained by clever swimmers, and the names of other countries too can be found in the list of winners. Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, each took a prize in the shooting competi– tions. Sweden was victorious in the High Jump and Denmark in theWeight– lifting competitions, while Greece itself won a brilliant victory in the Marathon Race." I have no quarrel with the Swedish opinion, except where the High Jump is concerned. That event certainly was not won by a Swede, but by E. H. Clark, U.S.A., who cleared 5ft. IIi in. Greek victory in the Marathon Race has been mentioned. That, I think, with the possible exception of the brilliant revolver shooting of the Paine brothers from U.S.A., was the high mark of the first of the Modern Olym– piads. Certainly the enthusiasm for the Marathon victory of Spiridon Loues, a little shepherd from the lonely hills of Greece, brought about the most exciting spectacle of the first of the Modern Games. Loues ha-d heard from travellers, on the hills where he lived and tended · his sheep, of the coming to his native land, from all over the world, of strong, swift and enduring men anxious to see if his countrymen had lost their old-time prowess in the space of fourteen hundred years. He knew himself– for a tireless runner and determined that he, at least, would. take up the challenge on behalf of his native land. The Greeks did not know of Loues, but they did think that their champion, Paraskevopoulos, would prove unbeatable as a discus thrower, an athletic event which they could trace back and had practised ever since the legendary days of the Olympian gods. Meanwhile the American, Bob Garrett, had heard of the supposed weight and dimensions of a discus and had one made at Princeton. Upon arrival at Athens, however, he found the Olympic Discus to be an altogether lighter and more wieldy implement and with it he completely subdued the aspirations of the Greek champion. Thus it went on throJ.+ghout the week. Greek onlookers thronged the Stadium, and those who could not secure a ·seat stood on the surrounding hills, but still no Greek athlete brought triumph for the blue and white flag of Greece. Then came the great Marathon test, instituted at the. revival of the Games to commemorate the immortal feat, although he died in its accom– plishment, ofPheidippedes, who in ancient times had run the forty kilometres, approximately, to Athens, to bring news to the city fathers of the triumph of Greek arms against the Persians at Marathon. The late Baron Pierre de Coubertin has stated that Loues, who was a very religious person, spent the two nights preceding the great race on his