The Fourth Olympiad London 1908 (extracts)

81 Olympic Council to refuse Longboat as a Canadian entry without the most careful consideration of any new evidence that might be subsequently produced. Two days after the Games in London had begun, the following com– munication was sent to :\1r. Fisher, of the Amateur Athletic Association:- "P. L. Fisher, Esq. " American Committee, Olympic Games, London. "2 - 3 Hind Court, Fleet treet, E.C. "July 15, 1908. " 10 John Street, Adelphi, W. "DEAR Srn, Mr. Gustavu T. Kirby informs me that our protest against professional Thomas Longboat should be sent to you a ecretary, '~ and should be accompanied by £ 1. "I enclose you herewith £1 1s., and you can consider the communica– tion from our ommittee men as our official protest against professional Thomas Longboat. "Yours truly, ( igned) "JAMES EDWARD ULLIVA1 ." Mr. Laffan, to whom as ecretary of the British Olympic Council this letter was handed, replied that as Longboat's status had been guaranteed by the Canadian Amateur Athletic Union and the Canadian Central Olympic Committee, the British Olympic Council found themselves in presence of a conflict of statements between governing as ociations, and it was therefore necessary to ask for the evidence on which Longboat had been disqualified in the United ~tate , in order that thi evidence might b . laid before the British Olympic Council. * No doubt an involuntary error on the part of Mr. Kirby. The General Regulations for the Olympic Games of 1908 were passed at The Hague in 1907, and were sent to the American Committee about a year before the Games began. Nos. 7 and 8 of these Regulations (printed in Chapter II.) deal with the amateur status of competitors, and No. 13 lays it down that: Objections to the qualifications of a competitor mitSt be made in writing to the Secretary of the British Olympic Council at the earliest moment practicable. 1r. P. L. Fisher was the secretary of the Amateur Athletic Association, one of the twenty leading organisations through which the Council worked. In the "General Rules" of the Amateur Athletic Association, printed in the daily pro– gramme of events, the sentence just quoted was reproduced for the information of all competitors, and of the members of the Comite d'Honneur from each country. On May 8, 1908, Mr. J.E. Sullivan, secretary of the American Olympic Committee, and President of the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States, was good enough to inform the American press that " the queshon (JI Longboat's entry in the English .kl arathon will be settled by the British Olympic Counci"l and the A.A.A. as they see fit, and we shall abide by their decisi"on. We are going to do nothing that would for a moment detract from the success of the Games, but on the contrary will render all possible help to the fixture." F