Success in Athletics and how to obtain it

CHAPTER XII THE HOP, STEP, AND JUMP THIS event, known in Ireland as the " hop, step, and a lep;" is most unfamiliar to Englishmen. With the merits or demerits of this sport it is hard to deal, but it must, in common fairness to the athlete, be said that no game imposes more strain upon the legs than does this triple leap. The pole-jumper, high-jumper, and long-jumper alike are nowadays provided with a sand-pit wherein to land, and are thereby saved much shock to the system; but the man who essays the triple leap has got to face the fact that after he has taken off he will land fairly on the turf with his take-off leg, and then again with his other leg, from which he takes off in the final jump. When it is considered that Dan Ahearne, the Irish– American World's Re~ord Holder, has cleared some– thing over so feet in this style of jumping, it will be obvious that the strain on the athlete's legs must be enormous, and the shock to the system from the jar of landing twice on the solid turf in the course of carrying out the evolution is by no means inconsiderab-le, so that none but those with the very strongest nether limbs, well built up at ankle, knee, and hip, should attempt this form of jumping. 98