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. ,■ m tmmmmis—■ *n-. ' wm —■»«— - - ■ ——h —mi ... ■ m ■ .n —,...... ,......... .1— -mmm ■ m .........s n—■■ ■— nThe SportlikhtQrantland RiceTHE MILE AND OTHER RECORDS.Dear Sir: Several times recently yon have mentioned the possibility of a natural mller running a mile in 4 minutes flat, A study of the record book proves that such a performance is belyond the realm of reason. Back in 1886 W. O. George, the English professional, hung up a record of 4 12\, and since then just two men in the wor!— Norman Tabor and Paavo Nurmi, have bettered that figure in outdoor competition. Through a span of forty-three years, with all the thousands of mile races that have been run. just two runners have ebeen able to cut under 4:13 under conditions that the International Federation would recognize on the record books. Add to these the five or six indor performances between 4:12 and 4:13, and you have the sum total of the efforts of all the great milers of all time. In view- of these figures Nurmi's world's record of 4 10 3-5 Is an almost superhuman feat To suggest that any one will cut t»n full seconds, or even five, off this figure Is taxing the Imagination. 1 Only six modern runners have ever bettered 4 13 either indoors or out. Imagine these six Joi Ray Tabor. Nurmi. Ray Conger. Lloyd Hahn and Edwin Wide lined up for a mile race on a day whn each is at his peak. ; Your mythical four-minute miler would have to beat this sexteette bynearly 100 yards! , , .The constant smashing of records in the field events is purely a matter of improved technique. Give the modern pole vaulted the old-style heavy p le cut out the Jackknlfe '* make him kecpe both hands still andtwelve ieot will be the ‘ ceiling.’ as it was in 1900. Whre would the sam-mer throwers b? with the old solid wood handle. Instead of the present flexible wire contraption? Mike Bweenev in 1896 high jumpeed flI feet 5 * Inches to a record that would probably be standing today if the Californians had not invented the “roll that is so close to a dive that it Just gets by the rules In the broad Jump some genius found that he ecouid add a foot or so to the distance by “walking in the air. And soBut the runners have no such tricks to turn to, and so thier ret ords improve but little and thve are slowly but certainly approaching an irreducible minimum. Wendell Baker, of Harvard, and the incomparable Lon Meyers both in their prime around 1885, ran the quarter und^oi ds without the use of the c ouching start or modern tracks. How many quarter-mllers in the world today could beat them7 Maxey Long’s straight-away quarter in 47 flat has ich dsince 1899 The half-mile mark has come down by 8ur^ -a seecond for a total of two seconds in thirty-four y®«\ObSKv The othe- cut of two seconds during the next generation ,1. 1 .“hundred/’ even accepting Simpsons recent 93-5 has cl11 in Itwo-fifths of a second since the invention of the lt;ro 18than two full strides in forty years . ... . „ thrnui»hTo return to the four-minute mile, the only chance will be ^rougthe introduction of some stunt such as feeding t^e runner ox g ning the performance GEOROE P, MEADE.NOT SOON—ANYWAY.It will be a long time before any one crowds the mile close to minutes, but it might be remembered that in Practice Nurmi ha the mile around 4 08 There we-e many at the 0»t»P‘r gmes of IBM wl,e 1 Nurmi was at hU best, who bel-’ved he could do 4 06 if he wouldtrain for that distance . . . .nm,thinD tn doImproved equipment and faster tracks have hsd something to dowith many modern records beyond a doubt. An°th o? twentysands are training and being trained today ihe doaen of twentyyears ago. Yet in many instances the improvem^nt of r^c*rclt?Li1 ,, in flight. What the human limit is for the 100 the 440*nd the open to debate No human today is equipped to stand up under a 9 second Clip The same is true in regard to running the mile aroundflat. As heart and lungs a-e now made they could never of a 4 minute pace without coliasptng or running into serious results.“If Schmeling ” writes Oldtimer. “had Jim Corbett’s ambition fordeveloping speed and skill when Jim w asr o ml ng onthe Oerman nd ghtmake the greatest heavyweight of them all For he c»n Rla » P anv ft them ” No fighter yet ha* ever used as much bra'rj *^ as muchard work as Corbett s physical qualificationsambition to work as Corbett and Tunnev worked the former,he might easily rule the heavyweight crowd ^ven year If hor his handlers take it for granted that he is air a g, will be a deferent story.
Newspaper Details
Lincoln Star
Lincoln, Nebraska, US
Tue, Jul 09, 1929
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Pikes P.
CO, USA 07 Mar 2023
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