LUELLA LAW

Bo THE.

SPORTLIGHT

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CANADA'S BEST BET in the Olympics is young Len Walters,

. y assiest amateur featherweight on ‘this continent and undoubt-

One of ‘the best in the world. If Len wins at Helsinki the
at athers should roll out the carpet for him on se oak
town Will be the biggest thing in sports that’s happen §
me ence eae cy Williams startled the track world by cap’ uring
, two Olympic sprint titles a couple
of decades ago.

Canada is sending a nice bunch
of athiétes to the Games this year,
but few of them are of internation-
al calibre. The fault lies not with
the athletes but with the training
—or lack of it—they receive in
this country. Track and ts
1p en't a big money-making
Satin so ane short-sighted
sports moguls keep the ‘purse-
strings tight and young thinclads
have to train sans
equipment and, jn most cases,
coaching. a

example is Shirley Eckel,
Ee ae Universtiy of Toronto
hurdler, who did most of her train-
ing in a back alley in Toronto,

then went out and set a new Can-

adian 80-metre record of 11.6 sec-

Oi dust two-fifths of a second off Fanny Blankers-Koen’s 1948
Ple mark, oy
Although few Canadian athletes are expected fo et aoe
.\ Up Doi or third at Helsinki, some of our represeatives may P.
‘nts by coming in fourth, fifth or sixth.

BARG
AIN BASEMENT: Here’s an easy
Met ?
take What Olympic runner was known as The at ‘peks
be Durselt a buck bv being the first reader to ees
Sic answer to Bert Whyte, Fatt Tribune, Room

ancouver 4, B.C.

good

\ LEN WALTERS

question for this

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By BERT WHYTE
On July 19 the eyes of the
world will focus on the Olympic
in Helsinki, Finland,
where amateur athletes from all
countries (except China) will
meet in friendly competition.

Following a parade of ath-
letes of the competing nations,
the sportsmen will take the
Olympic oath, which reads:

“We swear that we will take
part in the Olympic Games in
loyal competition, respecting
the regulations which gjovern
them and desirous of particip-
ation in them in the true spirit
of sportsmanship for the hon-
or of our country and for the
glory of sport.”

A fine oath, and if the duty
of upholding it rested with the
athletes alone, there is no doubt
that the Olympics would be a
powerful factor in helping to
broaden and extend the world
peace movement. Unfortunate-
ly, surrounding the athletes are
scores of bickering officials, and
these badgers (who were re-
sponsible for barring People’s
China) are experts at creating
“rhubarbs.” This year the U.S.
badgers will be watching for an
opportunity to bring the cold
war into the Olympic Stadium, in
the hope.of causing a rupture be-
tween American and Soviet ath-
letes.

“Beat Russia at any cost!”’ is
the unsportmanlike slogan coin_
ed in the United States this year.
This attitude (which definitely
is not shared by most of the
American athletes) is the di-
rect opposite of the spirit of the
Olympic oath.

According to Olympic rules,
each event is conducted to de-
termine a champion, Years ago
the United States newspapermen
began compiling an unofficial
tally (10 points for a winner, 5
for second, 4 for third, etc.) to
determine which country was
leading. Under this non-Olympic
system, the powerful American
teams (which were always the
largest, because more money was
available to send huge conting-
gnts than in the case of Euro-
pean countries) emerged as con_
sistent winners.

American superiority is con-
fined to track and field events,
and some swimming and diving
events. It is noteworthy that
no American has ever won dis-
tance races (5,000-metre run,

10,000-metre run, 3,000-metre

| Upsets -expected at Olympic Games

PR Mena r Ree e

1948 results

United States —........ 662 South ‘Africa -...-._... 35
sweden (ae 353 SaMaien 6 oe 29
BYANCe >< 22 ee 23015 ugoslavia -_..2........----. 17
Hangarye (ook te POLS 2: AC ORER sce ea 15
Tialy. -< face aie ok 183 Urngusy. 15
Great Britain _........ 170 Pies ee 131g
Binkandsc-oo se 158 Spades 2 111g
Switzerland: *::-:....:L2 1511 Polanil. et) oo eg 10
Denmark: 5556 38 305 143 Delia foe ee 10
The Netherlands ........ 119 Brazil 4 Se eye ae 9
Czechoslovakia  .......... ‘93 POPUL OL jx Gee 9
Murkey tcc oo a ee 88 PPANAING ok e S 8
Australia... i see 85 Len ie ee ee ee Oe 6
NOTWAYV? 335 se 65 WOVIOn = 974. oer Se 5
Aer Om Cini cc's aces fe 621 Cuba 5
Belgium .- 58 Trinidad 5
MexdiGots 288 (2k ees 411, Puerto Rico 4
Austria: ees 41 Pakistan: 22462065 2 3
Egypt 5 39 Philippimes  __-_._-....... 114
Canada. 42053 ee 35 6 7 5 (Ae iinges oag ch aoe, 1

PT Ee ee

steeplechase, or the 10-000- @ USSR to win women’s
metre and 50,000-metre walks). weight, discus and javelin
Biggest upset predicted this throws.
year is in women’s track and @ Netherlands to win women’s
field, where girls from the So- 200-metre race and hurdles
viet Union are expected to (Fanny Blankers-Koen, that is).
sweep the field. . @® Hungary to win fencing
Here are a few predictions on honors. :
some of -the major Olympic @ Sweden to take Greco-
events: Roman wrestling.

@® Finland and Switzerland
to capture gymnastic events.

@ France and Italy to dom-
inate cycling. ‘

@ New Zealand, Hungary and

@ U.S. track and field team
to dominate in sprints, high and
low hurdles, high jump, long
jump and pole vault.

@ Finland to win the javelin

throw, with Norway second. USSR in women’s long jump.
@ Italy to take the discus @ Britain’ and USSR in wo-
throw, men’s high jump.

@ Brazil to capture the hop,
step and jump.

@ Norway to win the ham-
mer throw; Hungary, USSR and
U.S. challenging.

@ Hot competition for de-
cathlon between Mathias of U.S.,
Heinrich of France, Clausen of
Iceland and Lipp of‘ USSR.

@ USSR to win the steeple-
chase.

@ Czechoslovakia to win the —
5.000 and 10,000-metre ' races
(Emil Zatopek, of course!)

@ U.S. to win most swim-
ming events, with some -titles
going to Japan, USSR and Ger-
many.

@ Hungary to win most wo_

- © Boxing titles divided. with
Canada’s Len Walters favored
in featherweight division.

@ USSR, Italy, Sweden and
Britain to share honors in walk-
ing events.

@ India to win fgid hockey
title,

I haven’t attempted to pre_
dict results in the equestrian
events (in which. by the way.
Canada is entering a team for
the first time) nor in canoeing,
shooting, yachting or football.
If the USSR enters a football
team it should win, judging by
past performances of se.
Soviet elevens.

Canada’s ace women’s ark

men’s swimming events, with star is Louella Law, but she may
some titles going to U.S* and find the going rather tough at
Denmark, Helsinki.

°

This four-man crew from Hamilton will represent Canada in rowing events at Helsinki this

month.
Zwirewich and Art Griffiths.
Toronto Dons in recent trials,

Photo shows coach Pat Cline and (from Ieft to right) Ron Cameron, Lloyd Montor, Jack
They won the right to carry Canadian colors by easily defeating

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JULY 11, 1952 — PAGE 11

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