Olympic Cavalcade

,] 44 OtYMPI€ CAVAl.CADE a charming smile and expressed the hope that the team from Great Britain would win. The Kaiser proved wrong in his prognostication, and no doubt his sister paid her debt to King Edward. The Germans were late on the ground and that circumstance delayed the start of the bouts. Almost on the word 'Play' Desborough scored a hit on Erckhart. He and the British fencer Seligman won all their fights. Duff-Gordon and Newton Robinson were each hit once. By the time the Germans had suffered nine defeats it was hopeless for them to continue, so the British team won by 9 events to 2. King Edward VII became Patron to the Amateur Fencing Association and, to commemorate the name of his forebear Henry VIII, who was the original Royal Patron, His Majesty granted to British International Fencing Teams the privilege of wearing that small silver emblem (red and gold for captains) which is the Tudor Rose- the badge of the earliest monarch who encouraged English swordsmanship. - Mention has been made already that that was the first International gathering to which America sent a properly accredited and organized national team. That team did not, however, reach Attica without some troubles and trials. The U.S.A. team, comprising 35 athletes, with coaches and officials and the wives of some of the members of the party, set sail from New York for Athens in the S.S. Barharossa. They almost immediately encountered trouble. On the secon_d day out a very heavy sea swept the deck and put six of their athletes out of action for the time being, including M. J. Sheridan, who was to figure as their best Weight man in the coming programme. There was to be no Hammer Throw to suit John Flanagan. Fay Moulton and Harry Hillman were also among the temporarily disabled. . Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in the Mediterranean had also complicated the food situation en route, but there were numerous wives on board the Barharossa. They formed themselves into a Women's Auxilliary Corps and looked after the catering and, later, the cooking, for the team of husky athletes and hearty eaters. Mrs. Ray Ewry was one of this devoted little band. It is said of her, incidentally, that, so keen was she on the athletic success of her husband, when Ray was approaching 30 years of age, and getting rather tired of winning Olympic gold medals, she chased him into training, which she personally supervised! It is said, moreoverl that on the voyage of the S.S. Barharossa she conducted a gallant fight with the customs officials who confiscated the soft drinks of the team, which they insisted upon replacing with an equal quantity of light Italian wines. The soft drinks were mistaken for gin, I am told! · It seems to have been the idea of the Organizing Committee for the inter~ calated Celebration that there should be a reversion to the original pro~ gramme of the Modern Olympic Games. There was, for instance, but one