Why? The Science of Athletics

HEALTH ASPECTS AND HEALTH TRAINING 45 Athletes should be trained to regard competition with equanimity, to accept victory as the logical reward of personal self-sacrifice, obedience and perseverance. It should be brought home to them that their victory is as much due to their coach as to themselves, because this is only just, and it halves the responsibility when a boy loses. Finally, they should be encouraged to look upon defeat, not as a disgrace or a failure, but as a circumstance affording them the opportunity to do honour to a man who is better than themselves at present. I have empha– sized the last two words, because it must be a part of the proper mental outlook of the athlete for him to believe that no opponent is unbeatable, no matter what his pre– vious reputation may be, or how many times he has gained the victory. In this connection I can think of no better example than is supplied by the meetings of J. E. Lovelock, Oxford University and New Zealand, and Bill Bonthron, Princeton and U.S.A. When they first met in America on July I5th, I933, Lovelock won the mile in 4 mins. 7.6 secs., beating Bonthron, who returned 4 mins. 8.7 secs., both men thus beating the previous world's record. Their next meeting was in London in July I934· In the meantime Lovelock had been winning nothing but comparatively slow races, and, at that, he had not always been vi~torious, whereas Bonthron had been leaving a blazing trail of success and broken records behind him. He had beaten' Glenn Cunningham, who has a new world rec<_?rd of 4 mins. 6.7 secs.; he had himself made a world's record of 3 mins. 48.8 secs. for I5oo metres, which is equivalent to a mile in just about 4 mins. 5 secs., and yet Lovelock faced their next meeting with perfect equanimity, (lnd that was why the New Zealander beat the American in two out of three of their races in Europe, just as he had beaten him on his own soil in America. It was a true case of th~ winner possessing the right mental outlook towards athletics, if ever there was one. Furthermore, when the "Mile of the Century", which