Amateur Athletics Of The Future

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 7280, 6 October 1933, Page 5

Amateur Athletics Of The Future

LORD BURGHLEY STATES HIS VIEWS

SHE opinion is held by Lord Burghley, famous English athlete, that the saturation point in athletic records has not been reached yet, and that records will continue to be broken for many years to come—perhaps indefinitely. This opinion was expressed by Lord Burghley in an interview which a London newspaper man had with him a day or two after the recent English - amateur athletic championships, winch marked his final participation in major competitive sport. He has decided, to retire because of his increasing activities in other fields and tile fact that “the older one gets the more time and trouble it is necessary to expend' in keeping tit.” Among Lord Burghley s observations were:— , Olympic Games—Despite many adverse views they arc undoubtedly a powerful influence for international amity. Sixty nations in the stress of physical competition got along. far better at Los Angeles than 65. nations seem able to do at the Geological Museum. Biggest Thrill of My Career.—Winning the 400 metres at the Amsterdam Olympiad in 1926 by two feet. A marvellous moment! Training Methods.—Mine arc a shock to my American friends. When I am in good condition, one day’s training and' one day’s racing a week are quite sufficient. , Diet.—No fads. Regular meals and digestible food arc all that matters. Hours.—Reasonable. I used to be m bed by 11 most nights and get eight hours’ sleep. . ~.. _ , English Weakness m Field ’ Eyents. —This will not be remedied until we get a superman to lead the wav, fire enthusiasm, and form a “school” of emulators. Secret of the Finns’ Success.—Largely a matter of temperament. “On (he question of continuing to belter existing times,” added Lord Burghlev, “I think the human frame is developing continually, and will always he capable of better and better speeds. “Just as the size of suits of armour show how puny were our forebears in the Middle Ages, so will the men of the future be better physical specimens than we are.

“The competitive element, too, is a great force in athletics. So long as you have one man putting up records, so long will you have 20 others striving to smash them, and, eventually succeeding.” , Lord Burghley said that with the passing years it took longer and longer for a man lo reach his peak form. Whereas in immediate post-university days it had taken him perhaps two or three weeks, this year he had trained since the beginning of May for last Saturday’s event. Actual racing played a big part in his training, as this was essential for “tuning up.” The superiority which Americans were usuallv able to claim in athletics came, he said, not so much from superior coaching, more intensive or more wholehearted training, as was generally thought in England, but from their far

greater number of ’Varsity undergraduates.

“When you have an enormous number of students —there are single universities in America of 12,000 or 15,0U0 students—you arc almost sure to have a correspondingly large number of enthusiastic young athletes.’ The “inspirer,” the man who starts a wave of enthusiasm for a particular branch of athletics, is a great force for improvement, said Lord Burghley. In post-war British athletics F. R. Gaby was “the thin end of the wedge” in hurdling, who had, by his example, brought on a group of British hurdlers, “including myself.” Lord Burghley is 28. _ He is M.P. for Peterborough, and during his athletic career has captured many high honours. Last year he captained the British Olympic team at Los Angeles.