Success in Athletics and how to obtain it

148 SUCCESS IN ATHLETICS body, and that the left hand is resting upon the right knee. Now, if the statue is viewed from behind, or, better still, if the accompanying sketch and the photo- . graph of Duncan Gillis (fig. 53) are carefully studied, the reader will at once see how the mistake arose. The thrower is bending the right knee and turning the body to the right in order that the right arm may swing well back to give a greater radius to the circle as the arm crosses to the front to deliver the discus. The left hand is also brought across the body to give greater facility to the turn, but it is not in any way touching it, although with ~ · photo­ graph, taken directly from the side, the thrower's position- might very well appear to approximate with that of the Discobolos statue. Atten– tion is called to this theory, which is, to the best of our belief, here ad– vanced for the first time. Having done our best to clear up what has for many been a very vexed question, we may proceed to the real art of discu~-throwing as practised to-day. Unlike the other weight-throwing events, in which the throw is made from a 7-foot circle, the discus– thrower has the advantage of a larger space in which to work, th ~ circle for this event being 2 · 5 metres (approximately 8ft. 2! ins.) in diameter; but counter– acting this advantage is the fact that whereas the hammer-thrower and shot-putter may deliver the missile in any direction they think fit, the discus– thrower's effort will not count unless the discus first strikes the ground within two lines set out upon the ground at 45 ° on either side of a centre line (in other