*

Canada, South Africa after third spot

Aussies, English widen
lead over BEG field

__ England jumped into an early lead wi
inging up 68 points in unofficial team standi

hen Games competition opened last Saturday,
ngs based on the 10-5-4-3-2-1 distribution for

the first six finishers in each event. Australia. finished the day with 47 points. But on

onday the tables were turned. and
With 76 points to England’s 68.

porte battle all the way. (For
ater figures see back page.)
' England fielded a powerful track
am and will likely win a basket-
Of medals in the longer dis-
nee races. Upset of Hurrying
°C Hogan in the 100 yards dash
ened the Aussies, but their bril-
lant woman sprint, Marjorie Jack-
Son-Nelson, regained prestige by
alking away from her field.
ane ghting it out for third place
ae Canada and South Africa. The
Madians aren’t winning many
sole but have so many athletes
Ntered in most events that they
Pick up odd points here and there.
a he New Zealand team, small in
pynbers, was in fifth place after
0 days of competition, and could
aan ground rapidly through the
With of their super-star, Yvette
¢ illiams, On opening day Yvette
asually tossed the shot more than
see feet farther than her closest

"val, sh f i ’ f
Canada. apely Jackie MacDonald 0

YVETTE WILLIAMS

ae i 5

Australia’s young swimmers ar
outstanding, and on the track Mar-
jorie Jackson-Nelson is little short
of phenomenal.

the boys from Down Under forged to the front
It became obvious that it was going to be a ding-

Marjorie comes from Lithgow, a
town noted for its spirit of co-
operation and working people’s
solidarity. Lithgow didn’t have a

‘decent running track. So the peo-

ple got together and battled for
it—and won it.

Members of the Lithgow Ath-
letic Club are ‘partly responsibie
for Marjorie’s success, including
president Les Brown. Les is a

| well-known Communist, and if he’s

not collecting at the pit-top for
the Athletic Club, he’s probably
selling Tribunes (the Australian
counterpart of the Pacific Tribune).

For the size of its population,
Australia can claim to stand with
such countries as Hungary, the
Soviet Union and the United States
as one of the world’s leading sports
countries. That’s why, with a

‘smaller BEG team than England’s

the Aussies are in there fighting

‘for first place. ;

Das

Junoesque Jackie wins

a silver medal

Tower and shot put star,
Shot 42 feet 7 inches.

First silver medal won by ane
Jackie MacDonald, Toronto school feac

I
Unoffici ted “the schoolmarm
ial poll, have vo Jackie picked up her

da in BEG ‘competition
er whom sports writer

s and photographers. in a strictly
'd gladly go back to Grade Five for.” A discuss
silver medal for heavina the gold-painted

was presented to 21-year-old

ROGER BANNISTER

Bert Whyte's

We. who do you pick, Ban-

nister or Landy? That’s the
question I’ve had fired at me
every day this past week.

Most track experts are confi-
dently selecting Landy, the
world’s fastest miler, to finish in
front this Saturday . I’m no ex-
pert, so I’ve plunked five dollars
on Bannister (the bet is with a
PT salesman who lost $5 to me
on the Marciano-Charles fight, and
is eager to get even).

Soft condition of the track will
make a four-minute mile difficult,
but not impossible. I figure Lan-
dy will lead most of the way, and
Bannister will pass him with his
famous “finishing kick” in the last
quarter.

Several things could go wrong
with this prediction. If Landy
sets a blistering pace throughout
he may stay in front all the way.
On the other hand, if John and
Roger jockey for position in slow
time, young Murray Halberg
could get in front and take it all.

m % os
Plenty of eyes, including mine,
strayed from the track to the in-
field every time shapely Jacque-
line MacDonald put the shot.
Even with her right knee swath-
ed in a big elastic bandage,
Jackie looked like a king-sized
Betty Grable. My borrowed bin-
oculars were so powerful that
they practically brought her up
into the stands with me. Who
Says sports reporting is all work?
Jackie was good, but no match
for superwoman Yvette Winni-
fred Williams of New Zealand—
the gal I tabbed a month ago to
win three gold medals. Yvette
outheaved Jackie by more than
three feet, but her best effort
(45 ft. 9% in.) fell far short of
the little blue flag which marked
the women’s world record of
53 ft. 134 in. set by G. Zybina of
the Soviet Union in 1953.
os 5 Og bes

Hector Dennis Hogan (Dennis
the Menace) had a bad day all
round. Unanimously selected to
win the 100 yards dash, he came
second to Harry Nelson of Can-
ada in the first heat, finished be-
‘hind Trinidad’s Mike Agostini in
the semi-final, and was beaten by
‘both Agostini and Canada’s un-
heralded Don McFarlane in the
final. ,
| Hee had no excuses. “I simp-
lly didn’t have it today,” he told

JOHN LANDY

SPORTLIGHT

reporters. And that’s a fact, for
in the final he lurched over the
finish line and almost took a nose
dive into the virgin cinders.

os 5 o3 be

Perhaps the two biggest thrills
of the first day came in the six-
mile jaunt and the high jump.

The English, as expected, dom-
inated the six-miler. Galloping
24 times around the quarter-mile
oval is no trick to lads brought
up on haddocks, herrings, hares
and hounds. ;

Funniest sight was the sym-
pathy shown by the crowd for
veteran Jim Peters, whose wob-
bling head and agonized features
from the first mile on made spec-
tators murmur, “Oh, the poor
man, he’s all tired out.” They
seemingly weren’t aware that
Peters is Britain's marathon
champ, and favorite in the 26-mile
grind this coming Saturday. His
grimaces, like Zatopek’s, are part
of his stock-in-trade:

As the men became separated
from the boys, Peters was still
in there, running first or second
until the final lap, when Peter
Driver shot to the froht and put
on a driving finish to set a new
BEG record. Frank Sando came
in second and Peters third—an
all-English sweep.

Australian John Vernon was
picked by many experts to win
the high jump, but he couldn’t
do better than sixth, with a 6 ft.
4 in. leap. :

As the afternoon wore on it
became apparent that two jump-
ers from Nigeria and one from
Uganda would battle it out for
top spot. The grandstand crowd
began shifting down to the cheap-
er seats near the high jump pit,
and excitement mounted to fever
pitch as P. Utola (Uganda), N. B.
Osagie (Nigeria) and E. A. Hea-
juna (Nigeria) all cleared 6 ft.
6% inches.

Then Utola and Osagie missed,
and Ifeajuna, jumping with a left
shoe on and his right foot bare,
cleared 6 ft. 7 inches and after
a short rest soared over the bar
at 6 ft. 8 in. to set a new Games
mark.

$e epee £9 ;

Just over 17,000 turned out. for
the first day’s events—a disap-
pointing crowd for a Saturday.
The 35,000 Empire Stadium is
sold out for this coming Satur-
day, however,

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — AUGUST 6, 1954 — PAGE 11