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v^v~3Y*-A CANT GOtJtTD ^.. ...yOne. of the curious sidelights of the Olympic track and field bat-tie, as I gathered It from theThey can’t stop Nurm!being a sportsman, anyway.fromFinnish grapevine system of in- Carr And Eastman,formation, concerns the reaction of Paavo Nurmi to the tactics of his youthful fellow countrymen in competition, notably that of Laurl Lehtincn.To have the real picture it is necessary to keep in mind that the international moguls, before the games, held, up the great Paavo as a somewhat horrible example of an amateur gone wrong, placing upon him by indirection the stigma of professionalism,So Nurmi sat in the stands during the games, an obscure and silent figure, forgotten mostly by the multitude .the last, of his Olympic records wiped oft the books.Like the rest of the crowd he watched the tactics of Furje in the 1500 meters, in which this Finn collided with most of the field, including the Americans,Hallo well and Crowley; then, onthe following day, saw Lehfcinen crowd off Hill, in violation of the rule3, in the stretch drive of the 5,000 meters.Nurmi not only watched but grew a bit incensed. The old master never would have descended to such methods himself, So it seems that when he got back to Ure Olympic village in the evening he took these young felows to task in no uncertain terms.In fact, the story goes that Paavo, who has a habit of speaking his mind without fear or favor when among his own clan, “dressed down” the boys quite briskly, not only for their unsatisfactory performances, but for the impression they created among spectators.tIttOne of the big regrets of the games, of course, from the- American viewpoint, was, the fact that big Ben Eastman did not lead the pursuit of Tom Hampson, the British school teacher, in the 800 meters, instead of chasing Willie 1 ] Carr in the 400, ' 1;Most any unbiased observer could have told In advance • just how the third edition of the Carr-Eastman story was going to end —just like the previous two. At 400 Carr packs too much speed and “kick” for Eastman. Carr 1b a sprinter, Eastman a strider who is apt to ‘‘tie up” when he begins reaching for the tape. iOn the other hand, at his natural distance, the half-mile or 800, Eastman would have furnished one of the prettiest duels of the games against Hampson and Alex Wilson of Canada.Poet. Mortem! „You can’t convince Evelyn Hall of Chicago, even now. that shewas beaten by Babe Dldrikson,the “wonder girl,” 5n the final of the girls’ 80-meter hurdles in theOlympics.The slow motion pictures only serve to heighten the argument, so far as Evelyn is concerned, l sat through a showing of thesepictures as Mrs. Hall argued her, point in person. The films showed Evelyn and Babe hitting the tape simultaneously, but the Texas girl appeared to gain shade by twisting her left_ shoulder across the finish, line first,Evclvn had as much if not more of her body across in a ing finish, and her forward kneewas In front.
Newspaper Details
Moberly Monitor Index
Moberly, Missouri, US
Tue, Aug 16, 1932
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Pikes P.
CO, USA 20 Dec 2019
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