AMERICANS APPRECIATE LOVELOCK

Evening Star, Issue 22446, 17 September 1936, Page 4

AMERICANS APPRECIATE LOVELOCK

“ CHEERFUL, FRIENDLY FELLOW" FURTHER IMPRESSIONS OF OLYMPIC WIN J. E. Lovelock has always enjoyed a fine reputation in the United States. American observers have never failed to give the great New Zealander full praise, hull of enthusiasm as they are for their own stars, they appreciate the fact that Lovelock is one of those rare fellows who, .when they put their minds to it, can always beat the world. New York critics in particular have a very soft spot for him. Whenever he has visited America they have taken him right to-their hearts. It will not be out of place, therefore, to give the refreshing and unusual angle of John Kferan on the New Zealander’s feat at Berlin. That was a remarkable operation performed by John Edward Lovelock m the Berlin Stadium. The visiting interne from St. Mary’s Hospital, London, practically cut the legs off his 11 rivals in the “ metric mile ” and made a deep incision in the former world’s record. While slightly painful to his breathless pursuers, the operation was a complete success. All were expected to recover. The time of 3min 47.8 sec was enough to leave more than his rivals gasping. At that rate, the astonishing interne would have rattled off a mile in 4min ssec or so. He was looking over his shoulder at the finish,_ possibly wondering what was keeping those other chaps. Just how fast could this medical man run in a real emergency? His own case history is an odd one. As a college student in his native New Zealand he broke his leg in a Rugby game. It was thought that the sad accident meant the end of athletics for J. E. Lovelock. But it was really his start on the road to fame. Barred from Rugby and other rough games, he took the cinderpath for light exercise. A Double Cure, As a Rhodes Scholar from New Zealander he entered Exeter College, Oxford, and it was as a miler witn the Oxford-Cambridge invading group that he set what was then a world’s record of 4min 7.6 sec when he beat Bill Bonthron in the Palmer Stadium in 1933. After that ho had an operation on his knee, and again it was believed that his athletic career was over. For many months he didn’t run' at all. It seemed impossible that he could come back "to the track and stay with such great rivals as Luigi Beccali, Bill Bonthron, and Glenn Cunningham. But he did it, breezing. He came ovy here last year to run Bill Bonthron and Glenn Cunningham ragged in the Palmer Stadium. He won as he pleased. The time wasn’t much—4min 11.2 sec—but that was because his rivals didn’t push him. He never bothers about time. His idea Is to get home ahead of the other fellows. The time required tor the operation is a mirfor matter to him. Through the spring there were reports from Merrie England that Stanley Wooderson was conquering Lovelock in mile races. The modest medical man said that he was thinking of shifting 'to the 5,000-metre distance in the Olympic Games. Wooderson seemed to be too fast for him at 1,500 metres. Luckily, he stayed in the 1,500-metre event at Berlin, although ho also filed an entry for the 5,000-metre event, just in case, A Stout Fellow. Jack Lovelodk runs like a f‘ stout fella,” but he is rather small in stature and almost spindly of frame. What his ringside weight was at Berlin this observer does not know, but when he *was last in this territory he weighed 1341 b, and said that he rarely varied more than a pound or two from that figure. He is a cheerful, friendly fellow of 26, with a slightly freckled complexion and a fine crop of curly red hair. He once fancied himself as a light-weight boxer, but some kind friend cured him of that delusion by giving him what he called “ a tremendous bash on the nose.” He doesn’t go in for superscientific training methods nor does he sit down and dope out a running campaign or a great race in advance. He leaves all that to those who like it or are. forced into it. He seems to take everything in his stride, casually. Where our athletes in training stick to a carefully prepared and strictly followed schedule, Lovelock goes his own way. If it seems to be a nicer day for swimming than for running, he picks up his bathing suit. At-times, he turns his back on the track and has a spot of tennis or a round of golf. When he gets in a race his actions depend upon what the other fellows are doing. All he bothers about is to keep in a position where he can collar them in the stretch and lope over the line in advance. On the record as it stands Jack Lovelock must be rated not only a marvellous runner .but a great competitor. lie has been at his best in the big spots when the heavy pressure was on. No Mistake. It was figured that Stanley Wooderson must be good. Reports had Luigi Beccali running pretty close to record time in his preliminary campaign. There would be plenty of Finns, dangerous fellows, lurking here and there in the 1,500-metre field at Berlin. But Cunningham’s 3min 49.95ec, with San Romani at his elbow, made the outlook bright for our side on the far side. The outlook remained bright as the Finns and Wooderson laded at Berlin, but it began to cloud rapidly as Jack Lovelock stepped from the pack and started running in the 1,500-metre final. Somebody must have told the red-headed interne that it was a big case and a hurry call. He just went off and loft those other fellows. Ho w’as wearing a running suit but, apparently, he couljl have done it just as easily wearing a cutaway coat and carrying his medical kit in his hand. 3niin 47.8 see! And looking backward at the finish. That’s a proper bit ot limning and no mistake.