Why? The Science of Athletics

S88 WHY?-THE SCIENCE OF ATHLETICS athletic records, but that, after all, will be but a fresh case of the exception proving the rule. If the student of the science of .athletics will, from a head-on position, watch the finish of a race in which negroes are running, or failing that will study photo– graphs, he will see that the negro sprinters all show the same easy forward stride combined :with an equally easy . grace of speed. It is almost as though one could inter– change the legs of the negro_sprinters without making any difference to the grace of their action. On the other hand, white sprinters finishing under the strain of great speed very often show a tendenqr to bend outward at the knee, to become knock-kneed in the attempt to get the forward lift, or they angle outward from the hip, whereas the negro comes straight through to an electrifying finish because Nature has given him a better anatomy for the purpose of sprinting than is possessed by the white man. The most significant testimony to the progress of coloured athletes is to be found in . the fact that approximately 25% of the U.S.A. Olympic Athletic Team, rgg6, were negroes. There were 3 sprinters, 2 high jumpers, 2 quarter-milers, I half-miler, I hurdler and I long jumper. Truly, the tide of colour is rising in athletics !