Success in Athletics and how to obtain it

40 SUCCESS IN ATHLETICS hearted, with downright fortitude and hard fighting courage, imbued with a doggedness and grim de– termination. Being a South African, he was accus– tomed to atmospheric conditions accompanying extreme heat, and this experience may have been a factor in his success, for he ran home a victor on a sweltering day; but there is no gainsaying that his magnificent soundness, his strong muscular physique, and his colossal efforts were his chief assets in over– throwing preconceived ideas of the slightness of build for the long-distance runner. There is much to appreciate in the 11 little" man for long distances-the man of short stature coupled with slightness of build. Look, for example, at little whipcord-like Nicholls, · and look back at brave little Dorando. A well-known and celebrated physician, one of our keenest observers and in– vestigators, had the utmost faith in the little man for . endurance. It has been proved upon physio– logical and anatomical grounds that the short-statured soldier of our British line regiments is superior in all respects to the soldier of greater stature for endurance against the fatigues of a campaign. LONG-DISTANCE TRACK RUNNING 5,000 AND 10,000 METRES Directly one enters upon this subject, three names flash into the mind, Hannes Kolepmainen, Jean Bouin, and Alfred Shrubb-than whom the world has yet to see greater long-distance runners. Of the three, Kolehmainen was most before our eyes prior to the war; it is of him, therefore, that we will speak– only a little man, but of that shape and build and