Olympic Cavalcade

72 OLYMPIC CAVALCADE This was extremely bad luck on him, for whatever did or did not take place in the mix-up on an unstringed course, Kieran himself has admitted that: "Halswell won his hollow victory in the 400 metres run over . . . but in fairness to him it should be stated that he was a great man at the distance and might well have reversed the verdict ifmeeting Carpenter again." The jumping section of the programme was full of interest and United Kingdom hopes were very high, for we had Con Leahy and other dis– tinguished Irishmen in our team, but the United States, as always, had the king-pin high jumper, 26-year-old H. F. Porter, from Bridgeport, who stood 6 ft. 2! in. in height and jumped virtually his own -height when he won the conte.st at 6 ft. 3 in. in the Eastern Cut-off Style, but he succeeded by only an inch from Con Leahy; Dr. Steven Somody, an LLD. of Kolocsvar University in Hungary; and Georges Andre, a large and enthusi- . astic 19-year-old French schoolboy destined to become a world-famous low hurdler. Each of those three cleared 6 ft. 2 in. All the six placed men cleared 6 ft. or an inch more. · - The U.S.A. got four men placed out of the first six in the Running Long . Jump, F. C. Irons making a new Olympic Record of 24ft. 6! in.; C. D. Bricker, Canada, was beaten for 2nd place by but a quarter of an inch; and Weinstein, Germany, was 6th at 22 ft. 2! in. Irons was 22 years old, stood 5 ft. 5! in. and weighed 9 stone 7lb. In the Hop, Step and Jump the Irish at last came into their own. Twenty– two-year-old Tim Ahearne, although terribly nervous, won by half a foot from J. Garefield Macdonald of Canada, his senior by four years, with a new Olympic record of 48ft. I I! in. There were many Scandinavian, Dominions -and Continental competitors. The Pole Vault brought out the man with the scientific mind, A. C. Gilbert, of Yale, who invented the 'Erector', introduced bamboo vaulting poles and has become one of the fathers of pole vaulting in the States. He tied with his compatriot, E. T. Cooke at I2 ft. 2 in. while E. B. Archibald, Canada, tied also at I I ft. 9 in. with C. S. Jacobs, U.S.A., and S. Soderstrom, Sweden. The Standing Jumps were, of course, a good thing for Ray Ewry, who stood 6 ft. I in., weighed I I stone 8 lb., and had been in competition for 18 years. This, including the Athenian Celebration in 1906, was the occasion which would bring him his tenth Olympic 1st place medal in the Standing Jumps. If he is still alive he should be very grateful to Mrs. Ewry, for it is said that he had no wish to turn out again for the London Olympiad, but she coaxed him into training in their home backyard, for she had abso– lute faith that her husband could still beat the world at his speciality, and she was right, but there was a new star on the horizon in the I9-year-old Greek boy from Pylos, in Navarin. Tsiclitaras stood 6ft. 3 in., and would have made an admirable model for a Greek sculptor of old. In the Standing Broad Jump he did ' 10ft. 7t in. to Ewry's 10ft. ui in., and in the Standing High Jump was beatenbybutaninch when Ewry cleared 5 ft. 2 in.