Olympic Cavalcade

SECOND OLYMPIC GAMES, PARIS, I900 3I management of Charles H. Sherrill and the technical management of that dox..en of all mod~rn coaches, the late Michae1 Murphy, who had emigrated to America from Ireland. Among the members of the team whose names were to be remembered in the athletic aren_a for many ages were Alva Kraenzlein, the grea~ jumper-sprinter-hurdler; Ra_y Ewry, standing jumper; and John Flanagari, the Irish-American weight thrower. At that Olympic Celebration America liteially~ swept the athletic board,_ but France supplied the Marathon winner in M. Theato. It will be remem~ bered that in-· I896 E. H. - Flack, an Australian member ef the London Athletic Club, had won both the 8oo and the I 500 metres races. At Paris·his successors, . both_in faster times, were A. E. Ty:_5oe at 8oo metres, and C. Bennett at I 500 m~tn~s, both of Great Britain. The other successful English~ representative was €. Rimrner, who won the 4ooo metres Steeplechase. - These Ilnd Olympic Games in Paris were .h~ld mainly on the grounds of the Racing Club de Franee in the Bois de Boulogne, and at various other places. The Games were more distinguished for the multiplicity of ev~nts .than for anything else seen so far; even angling for live fish in the Seine-"W:as ~ included as an Oly_mpic Championship. The _predominance of Amerfcan athletes was Jargely due -to the enthusiasm of Mr. A. G. Spalding, U.S.A., - representative and a -director of the Olympic Games. America won I7 out of23athletjc events; England took four first plates, <1nd France and Hungaty one apiece. The athletic competitions, meanwhile, had been increased from I4 to 23 and the performances, except in ~e Marathon Race, had all improved. - _That the performances were so good as they were is surprising, for-in_ ~aris there was net e.ven a cirrqer path for the s.printers. The French officials JUSt marked out the wurse on a stretch of fairly level greensward in a field called the Pre CataJan, while the-weight men, more ·often than not, landed _ their missiles among the surrounding trees. There was quite a ~cene, sponsored, by the Americans, too~ over i:he opening ceremony of the Games, and, so far as I know, the Eng1ish toek part in it. What· the F ren~h _officials could not understand was what _pos– sible objection the English-s_peaking -races -could have to- taking part in -a sports meeting on the Sabbath. Saturday, I-4 July, 'Yas, therefore, decided - upon as the Opening Day, but that happenea _w coincide with: Bastille– Day, which was _equally sacred to the French. :fne_officials dia net so much object on that account as-because -it weulCl -be the -explicable_cause of the– absence of a great many would-be spectators. tt was,_moreover, decided ~ that the strict Sabbatarians should be allowed to compete in Finals on -- Monday, I6 July, and so everyone was satisfied, ·save far the Americ,ans, a~d. the magnitude of their perform~nces ~t that Celebration was largely' d~stmguished by the que~rness o£ the competitors' costumes._Those who dtd not come from the States donned - slacks, I erose coats and bowler hats and lounged <Wout the ground when each event was over. - The Games, as w<:,s to.be _the case also in future, were to prove the-