‘ ‘ < 4 t 4 Eas TES finest mo- ment at Helsinki came. not when he won the 5,000, 10.000 metres or the Marathon, but when he stood up before 30,000 people at a giant open-air rally organized by Finnish sportsmen Sunday this week and delivered an impassioned appeal for world peace. “The most important question before the world today is that of world peace.”’ said Zatopek. The 1952 Olympic Games. which brought together the world’s fin- est amateur athletes in friendly competition, helped to advance the cause of peace and dealt a hard blow to the hot war plan- ners. Before the Games ended, even sportsmen from People’s China were present in Helsinki, flown there from Peking after popular pressure forced the International Olympic Committee (headed by Yankee red-baiter Avery Brund- age) to recognize the right of 450,000,000 Chinese to be rep- resented, ' It was really a token visit on the part of the Chinese athletes, for the Olympic events were nearing completion when they arrived. But at the official wel- coming ceremony they were cheered and presented with flow- ers, and Jung Kao Tang, vice- president of the All-China Ath- letic Federation, said he hoped Chinese participation would -help increase the understanding be- tween athletes of all nations. He ended his speech: “Long live peace!” * While the spirit of peace and international friendship scored the most points at Helsinki, sour notes appeared in the score as it was presented by the Ameri- can and Canadian capitalist press. Trying to blow their cold ‘war against Russia into a hot one, maggot-minds on the sports pages of the big dailies unleashed tirades of invective against the athletes from the Soviet Union and the People’s Democracies. When Emil Zatopek won the 10,000-metre race, a sports writ- er for the New York Herald Tri- bune referred to the great Czech runner as the “Beast of Prague.” Locally, sports editor Erwin By BERT WHYTE ‘Swangard of the Vancouver Sun tried to go the frenetic Ameri- ams one better by suggesting that the Soviets “have given _ Some of the competitors tempor- ary leave from concentration camps so they could pick up points for-their loving mother- land.” Swangard is obviously suffer- ing from an acute case of For- restallitis. * Biggest surprise of the Olym- pic Games was the remarkable Showing of the Soviet Union, which led in the unofficial points scoring until the last day of com- petition, when American swim- a mers and divers piled up a re- markable number of points to put their country on top, Using the American-originated’ 10-5-4- 3-2-1 system of‘ points scoring. the United States finished with 614 points to the Soviet Union’s 553%. Using the Russion 7-5- 4-3-2-1 system of points scoring, the Soviet Union finished with 494 points to the American’s 490%. Both points systems are unofficial, The Soviet Union scored points in 79 of the 151 Olympic cham- pionships. and the United States tallied in 69. The United States won 41 gold medals and the USSR 23. Emil Zatopek, greatest dist- ance runner in athletic history, Nina Romaschkova, Soviet gold medalist, set a new . Olympics eee OL LUCE ei it en Me tt Tn TT UE Te was the individual star of the Olympic Games. He simply pul- verized the’ best runners from 7.0 countries in ‘the 5,000 and 10,000-metre races, and then walked away with the Marathon, biggest event of the Games. . Zatopek’s secret? “I just run,” he told a reporter. “That is all. Just running, running, ruinning and more running.’”’ The sun-tanned Czech army officer runs about 20 miles in training every day. much more than an ordinary athlete. He sprints and slows down. sprints: and slows down, driving com- petitors frantic. * Emil wasn’t the only Zatopek Olympic record in the women’s discus event of 168 feet 814 inches, * Highlights of to enter the gold medal class. His wife, Dana, won the women’s javelin throw. Thus. for the first time in the/history of the Games, a husband and wife team won four gold medals, * As we predicted in the Pacific Tribune some weeks ago, Soviet women athletes were outstanding at Helsinki. Their gymnastic team won.the gold medal (as did the USSR male gymnasts). Tina Botcharova won the beam exercises and the floor exercises; Ekaterina Kalinthouk won the horse vault and Marie Gonoh- kovspaja took the eight exer- cises gold medal. In women’s track and field Nina Romaschkova of the USSR won the discus throw and Galina Zybina captured the shot put. Contrary to the pre-Games stories written by American re- porters. the Soviet women who competed weren’t “Amazons” but ordinary, well-built girls. * In men’s track and field, Unit- ed States athletes took the dash- es, hurdles and short relays; fel] down badly in distance events. Americans easily won the high jump. broad jump and pole vault, and scored a surprising victory in the javelin throw. Wonder- man Bob Mathias emerged as decathlon winner for the second straight time. In men’s swimming events the U.S. made almost.a clean sweep. * Canada’s poor showing at Hel- sinki cannot be blamed on the athletes. but on the lack of training facilities provided in this country for promising thin- clads and swimmers. and the complete indifference shown by our governments—federal, pro- vincial and civic—in providing playgrounds and _ gymnastic equipmetn for our youngsters. Canada scored only 30 points in the Olympics. Top scorer was George Genereux, Saskatoon, first in the clay pigeon trap- shooting, 10 points. Canoers, weightlifters and our men’s re- lay team picked up the other 20 points, * The athletic youth of the world will meet again in friend- ly Olympic competition four years from now in Melbourne, Australia, unless Washington atomaniacs manage to unleash a war in the interval. The growing world peace movement has the power to prevent such a war, and the recent demonstra- tion of international peace and friendship given by 5,780 ath- letes from 70 countries at Hel- sinki strengthened immeasurably ‘the hands of the peace-makers. TT TT ne Gn at ge Lt SUT TEE Te Tt Why Soviets won 23 gold medals BY RALPH PARKER N Sunday, July 20, while their best athletes were de- lighting large crowds in Helsinki by their superb form and impec- cable sportsmanship, millions of Soviet citizens ‘assembled in parks, stadiums and on running- tracks to celebrate Physical-Cul- ture Day. All were amateurs. for in the Soviet Union there are no competitions for professionals and no contests by which partici- pants can earn a living. Soviet sports organizations believe that the only way to world records is through mass participation in sport. Visit the Dynamo Society’s sports \ park near the famous football stadium on the outskirts of Moscow, On this Sunday you will find young workers and students en- gaged in many kinds of sport in the most congenial surroundings, an old park fitted up with tracks, courts and arenas. Here and there you will notice boards list- ing the standards of the popular GTO tests, introduced in 1931 on the initiative of the youth. And you will fing Many men and wo- men —. Soviet sports societies cater equally for men and wo- men — competing for the GTO badges, a sign of all-round Dhys- ical fitness, In the USSR there are several] dozen voluntary sports societies, most of them Sponsored by ‘the trade unions. | It is not, however, necessary to belong to a sports club to take an active part in sport, as many competitions are organized by local committees for sport and physical culture, At the top of each voluntary Society is an elected governing body of the society which co- Operates closely with the state committees for physical culture and sport coordinating and di- recting the work of all the sports organizations of the USSR. Another noteworthy point about Soviet sports organizations —they do not specialize in par- ticular sports, each society or- Sanizing facilities for all the “do. sports its members wish to par- ticipate in. And each branch or club of a society runs its own affairs by an elected committee and man- ages its own local facilities, Gen- erally speaking they provide for light athletics, football, basket- ball, volleyball, skiing, skating, chess, ete. e As| the result of this vast organization sport jhas come within the reach of all. In Tsarist Russia participation was mainly confined to the well-to- So it was not to be wonder- ed at that in light athletics Tsar- ist Russia stood about sixteenth in Europe. Buildings for winter training. heavy investments in the mbin- tenance of equipment, and facil- ities for travel so that athletes can benefit from the exchange. of experience — these make great demands. Without state or trade union help, only wealthy privileged people could expect to excel in sport. And there are no privi- leged people in the USSR. The membership fees of So- viet sports societies are purely nominal, but all societies receive Substantial allocations from the corresponding trade _ unions. These funds enable the societies to provide members with all the sport equipment they need, as with all coaching and other fac- ilities, free of charge. That is why if you stroll along the embankments of the Moskva River you will see factory work- ers enjoying their leisure in sculling-craft built of the finest teak. and why if you visit any of the 300 branches of the Min- . ers’ Sports Society (Shakhtyor) in the Donbas you will find them . equipped with well-kept football pitches and changing facilities: The aim of Soviet sports is all- round physica] fitness. From @ social viewpoint sports are re- garded in the USSR as a positive part of a health service which Places prevention before cure: And, as such, the government gives the development of sports its attention and help. PACIFIC TRIBUNE — AUGUST 8, 1952 — PAGE 10