Chief coach of USSR talks Here’s ‘inside story of Soviet sports upsurge By GABRIEL KOROBKOV MOSCOW How have we Russians attained athletics superiority in such a short time? Have We any special training methods? Are our track and field stars ‘‘full-time’’ athletes? Many people blame us for wanting to win too much. » Well, what sportsman 8€s on to the track wahting to lose? I think all the foreign athletes we met wanted to win. to believe. oe athletes are ordinary peo- They are very keen on sport but have many other interests. They do not in the least re- Semble the fanatics some people ave tried to paint them. November, 1917, which trans- formed our whole country, had 4 decisive influence on the de- Yelopment of physical culture and sport. Those historical days were the chief foundation of our present Progress, ‘ From 1918 to 1922, athletics Penetrated the most remote lo- Salities, was brought to wide Sections of the population and Was included in the biggest sports Meetings, ‘ By 1928, all pre-revolutionary Tecords had been broken and Seven Russian athletes had been Numbered among the 10 best of Urope in their events. hese were the first Russian athletes of international class. Each year there were more and More, _ The standard of living was Sing; more ang more stadiums Bt Sports grounds were being The level of sports achieve- Ment in a country is directly inated to the standard of liv- s. Besides, the care of our physi- an education that the Soviet ate has always shown has been Invaluable help. _The “GTO” set or tests (prac- tal examinations of all-round Physical development), the plan- fed building of sports facilities, € network of state committees °r physical culture and sport, @d the millions of people who € part in the activities are tors that help our sport, and €tes especially. Improvement of the health vt the people—that, and noth- ne else, is the main aim of USsian physical culture and Sport. > fac Our success in sport is merely Natural result of this move- ent. ge Only these fundamental facts N explain our progress. sta yone who does not under- u Nd this, or who does not want 5 aderstand it, tries to explain oP Tise by “professionalism,” @naticism,” and other fantasies. Athletics developed particular- Y Tapidly in the thirties. Wace © rabid rise of our athletics Checked by the war. the mediately after the war, in let Summer of 1945, our ath- ana began to develop again, an the events of recent years © Well known. ounnds finally, the greatest of mili; achievements: nearly four ing 0 Russian people are tak- & Part in athletics. Uch is ‘our progress. main ave already mentioned the fae fundamental source of this ress, ma me now speak about other our ons — those which concern ing System of training and coach- thst me say first, however, “ Be Our athletes’ general meth- Samk training are much the as those followed by the f the world’s ‘outstanding men, We believe the main aims Ining to be physical educa= Testi o SPorts of tra We have no secrets and we are not confirmed sports fanatics, as some folks seem Nina Otkalenko, the fastest half-miler in the world of women’s sports, is shown winning a race at this distance in Moscow’s Dynamo Stadium last year, when she chopped 6.1 seconds off the existing record. She also holds world record for 800 metres. Women athletes from the USSR are expected to win many gold medals at the 1956 Olympic Games in Mel- bourne, Australia. tion of the people and the im- provement of their health. @ We believe it must be car- ried out under a coach. Training is not a spontaneous process, but a directed, educational one. @ We believe sports training should not, in any circumstances, interfere with an athlete’s work or studies. @ We do NOT believe that our athletes should become pro- fessionals — people with narrow sporting interests. VLADIMIR KUCS @ We believe athletics train- ing should be carried out, syste- matically and without interrup- tion, over a lengthy period of time — often over several years — during which there is con- tinuous development of the phy- sical and moral qualities. First-class results are obtain- ed through a person’s all-round development* which may take many years. Besides, it is impossible to ac- quire high-level technique in a short time. ; Therefore we believe that training should be not only of several years’ duration, but continuous and _— all-the-year- round. This training should be plan- ned. This means that an athlete should know how» his training will be made up for-several years ahead, and in more detail: how it will be made up in the cur- rent year. He should know exactly what his daily training periods will be for the next month, and what he will do during them. One of the biggest reasons for ‘the improvement of Russia’s ath- letes is the continuous character of their training. Periods of passive rest during their training year have’ been gradually eliminated. Our training has become con- tinuous during the week as weil. Athletes train almost every day, giving themselves only the necessary rest before competi- tion. It is usual to train on Tues- day, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, resting on Saturday, competing on Sunday and rest- ing on Monday if the competi- tion was strenuous. Bert Whyte SPORTLIGHT Te fight for Canadian in- dependence and_ against U.S. domination is being waged on all fronts, including the sports front. This fact was recognized by the delegates attending the Labor-Progressive party convention here weekend when they unani- mously- and enthusiastically en- dorsed a resolution calling for the reinstatement of Annis Stukus as head coach of the B: €. Lions: Copies of the resolution were sent to the directors of the foot- ball ‘club, to Mayor Fred Hume and the daily press. The resolution reads: “Whereas our people have shown that they want sports in Canada to be run by Cana- dians, “And whereas Annis Stukus was the only remaining Canadian coach in fast-disappearing Can- | adian football, “And whereas his emphasis was one of development of Cana- dian footballers, “Therefore be it resolved that this convention call for the reinstatement of Annis Stukus as head coach of the British Columbia Lions.” ete se og The 13 Lions’ directors who voted for the ouster of Stukus are roaring in pain these days as Vancouver citizens are mak- ing it unmistakeably clear that they feel Stukus was given a raw deal. Just look at the record. Stukus came to this town on a two-year contract to build a football team and “sell” foot- ball to the fans. No one ex- pected that a Grey Cup win- ner could be assembled in two years, or that the team would make money its first season. Fast-talking Annis accom- plished a miracle. In a matter of months he turned Vancou- ver into a football-mad metrop- olis, and even with a team that only won once in 16 games that year, the club eash register rang up a handsome profit on operations. This year Stukus had a bet- ter team, and predicted that Sete Se last. - the Lions would win five games. The team won five games, set new Canadian attendance records and gave the club a fat bank balance—while other WIFU clubs wound up in the red. It must be said that Stukus sought star U.S. imports with the same zeal displayed by every other coach. The way “Cana- dian” football operates, he had no choice. ‘ But in the time he has been here, Stukus has _ repeatedly stressed that the success of a ANNIS STUKUS team depends in large measure on developing good Canadian players, and he tried in every way to encourage Canadian talent. Just as his hard work was beginning to bear fruit, Stukus was fired—by a 13 to 10 vote of the board of directors. It was a contemptible action, and sports fans have reacted in a characteristic Canadian man- ner by demanding a reversal of the unjust decision. 50 it so Jim Peters has written a book, In the Long Run, in which he tells his version of the BEG marathon. If only he had known that his nearest rival was three and a half miles back, says Peters, “T could have stopped at the last feeding station, had a good sponge down and _ trotted in slowly.” He was worried about Stan Cox, who had been pressing him but who fell out at 24 miles. : z EE * Highlight of the BEG marathon was collapse of, Jim Peters. PACIFIC TRIBUNE — NOVEMBER 4, 1955 — PAGE 11 oS eat. Sakae i Sela a in ie ht. spit & : aayews: 2