Olympic Cavalcade

SECOND OLYMPIC GAMES, PARIS, 1900 29 American gentlemen to compete together and that George Washington defeated all his opponents at the Long Jump. In 1844 the first great American sprinter was George Seward, of New Haven, Connecticut, who came to England and made some remarkable records; then came Billy Jackson, known as the 'American Deer'; in 1863 L. Bennett, nicknamed 'Deerfoot', who was a full-blooded Seneca Indian, and in 1878 the Canadian, C. C. Mclvor, who had won the sprint championship of America. There was a strong development of Amateur Sport in U.S.A. between 1870 and 1878. The Inter-Collegiate A.A.A.A. was founded on 5 December, 1875, just prior to which event there had been a meet of colleges associated with the Inter-Collegiate Rowing Regatta. In 1876 the National Association of Amateur Athletes of America was formed. Subsequently the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States ·came into being in alliance with the Canadian A.A.A. for the government of athletics, basket ball, billiards, boxing, fencing, fives, gymnastics, lacrosse, swimming and wrestling. This system of central control and decentralized administration became popular . also throughout the continent of Europe. The progress of Australia and New Zealand may be taken as typical of the growth~ sport throughout the Empire. The A.A.U. of Australia and New Zealand is now the governing body in both countries, but before the Union came into being there were three championship meetings. The first championship meeting took place on the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1893. In view of the necessity of economizing space, let Sweden stand as the doyen of sport in Europe. Sport has undoubtedly formed a part of Swedish and probably Scandin– avian life in general since the days of the Vikings, at which period the Northern Games provided a counterpart to the Greek Olympic Games and may have.been even contemporaneous with the Tailtin Games themselves. Thanks largely to the precepts of Per Hehrick Ling, athletic sports began to make the~r way into Sweden through the schools in .188o. The first athletic club was formed in 1882; in 1891 the Swedish Athletic and .. Gym– nastic Association was founded in Stockholm and in 1896, the year follow– ing the revival of the Ancient Games, the first Swedish Championships were held. Later a central authority, not dissimilar in its ramifications to the A.A.U. of America, was constituted for the control of the major part of ~ sport. _... The institution of national championships in 1896, following the revival of the Olympic Games, or in preparation for that event, was almost uni– versal. The idea of international competition had begun to catch on after the first international meeting in America of the_London A. C., representing Great Britain, and the New York A.C., representing America, which had taken place successfully for the Americans at New York in 1895. . In 1873 the first football club on the Continent was founded by Mr. W. Sapt, an Englishman, who had been educated at Rugby School, and the first