Olympic Cavalcade

68 OLYMPIC CAVALCADE all-American quartette of finalists. Then there was also H. St. A. Murray, of Australasia. The · forecast before ever a heat was run was that the British. Lawn Tennis player not only would win the race over the high hurdles but would also smash the world's record. The Americans said, however, that they had a quartette of hurdlers who could not be beaten, and it was a big shock to the British when Kenneth Powell was defeated in the first round by W. M. Rand, U.S.A., by 3 yards in I 5"8 secs. . The spectacle of the Final is one which will never be forgotten by the old-timers who were present and had seen the great Alva Kraenzlein and A. C. M. Croome, the British fathe·r of straight-leg hurdling, at their best. The four Americans rose from their marks like birds at a shot, but from the first fence Forrest Smithson forged gradually ahead, gaining a little on each clearance, until he knocked ~ sec. off the record made eight years earlier by Kraenzlein, and became the first man in the world ever to register 15 secs. flat for such a race. He was 23 years old, stood 6ft. and weighed 12 stone 10 lb. He was a great hurdler, and owed his success in part to an accident early in youth which had given him amazing mobility in the left hip joint. The reliance of the United Kingdom in the 400 metres Hurdles was placed upon Jimmy Tr~meer-he was a noted furlong runner who owned to being well over 3<:? years of age-and L. A. Burton. But the American pair, Charley Bacon and Harry Hillman, who had won both hurdle races at St. Louis, were too good for us. They led off at tremendous speed and our men were out of the race before I 50 yards had been run. Bacon won a great race by a couple of yards in 55 secs.-his success, I think, being largely due to his greater stature. We have yet to deal with the sprints and jumps. America, as usual, had many first-class athletes, chosen on the selective principle of 'one go down another come up', but the U.K. had a little sprinter named Chapman, who had been showing something a bit better than even time running, and the champion of a year earlier, J. W. Morton. The hopes of the Empire were, however, based upon Bobbie Kerr, Irish-born Canadian, aged 26, 5 ft. T~ in. high and weighing 10 stone 10 lb. He was beautifully proportioned and held. two Canadian records of 9·8 secs. for the 100 yards and 21·8 secs. for the 220 yards. Up against him at 100 metres was the South African lad from Natal, Reggie Walker, who was 19 years of age~ and one of the youngest com– petitors at the Games. In the eliminating heats of the Ioo metres Walker found that he was slow off the mark in comparison with Kerr, and the Americans, that moody runner, 6ft. in height and 12 stone in weight, Jimmy Rector and big, long-striding Nate Cartmell, who had run second in the English 100 yards dash championship of 1907. That being so, Reggie went off on the