SWIMMING

Gisborne Times, Volume LXV, Issue 10318, 29 January 1927, Page 10

SWIMMING

6 4-SSEC BETTER THAN BORG. CHARLTON WORLD’S BEST.. (By F. W. Corbett in Sydney ‘Sun’.) No wonder boys climbed tall poles— And girls tried to keep their balance by grasping the necks'of strangers—- . • _ And once or twice. someone fell in the water— „/ And an olhcial was so confused that he kept shouting about ‘disquofolications’ when nobody was listening to him! Andrew Charlton was swimming the greatest quarter-mile of his career against Katsuo Takaislii. No wonder the noise sounded like the bursting of a great dam when Charlton had won and his time had been announced. The world’s champion had lowered his own Australian record by many seconds, and if the crowd had sat tight and thought it all out the cheers might still be reechoing far away over the Pacific. FASTER THAN WORLD’S RECORD. His time, 4min 59 4-ssec, on actual figures, was not a world’s record, but it was the greatest effort the world lias ever seen, and on a mathematical comparison his time was six seconds and a fraction faster than the world’s record. Calculate it this way : On September 11, 1925, in Stockholm, Arne Borg, in a miniature hath 25 yards long, after a series of great plunges from the turning boards, was credited with 4min 52 8-0 sec. It is accepted that a master of turning gains a second every time he spins round for another lap. Borg and Charlton are most adept at negotiating the turns. Borg had 17 turns at Stockholm. Charlton had only three at the Domain baths. That meant a difference on paper of 14 seconds, which would reduce Charlton’s time to 4mm 45 4-0 sec.

SWIM—AND BE WELL. Of all athletic exercises, says David BiHington, the champion swimmer, I consider swimming the greatest cl them all. It differs from other exercises and sports insofar that it is hot only an exercise, blit an ait. Most medical men are agreed ;providing that no unusual »oakness exists in the individual ■•hich rakes swimming risky) that no exercise is better or more calculated to develop the bodv uniformly aiicl well. In addition to this, ft is exhilarating, cleanly, and healthy. Swimming is a pleasant pastime; it is an exercise 1 which develops the body symmetrically and thoroughly; sometimes it is tlie, means of protecting and saving life. As a pastime it has lew equals. The pleasure of bathing—whether outdoors in summer or indoors in winter—can he fully appreciated only bv good f wimmors. 'Of the value of swimming from a hygienic standpoint, very little need he said. Its very cleanliness ensures health ; for cleanliness is the bed reck of good health, just as uncleanliness is the principal cause of disease. Swimming as a means of developing the body has few equals. There are very few exercises that, develop the body as symmetrically as will swimming. And by symmetrically I moan proportionately and from head to foot, with no muscle developed at the expense of another. I have heard it said that a swimmer has no muscles at all. That may be true, if you look at it oulv from one point of view. When yen look at the average good swimmer, von do not see the abnormal, hard.' knotty muscles that you see on the weight-lifter or wrestler. But he is possessed of the only pliant, loose, and supple muscles that will benefit an athlete, that never tire or become muscle-hound. It improves the wind, and has the great .advantage of strengthening the muscles without hardening them. A swimmer emerges from a two or four weeks' period of training, feelincr in the nink of condition, and with the exhilarating feeling that makes life worth living. • There are a certain number of athletic trainers who forbid men swimming in the water during training. They are either ignorant or cannot trust the athletes they are training. No one can convince me that a daily swim of three or five minutes is not beneficial to an athlete, or that it doesn’t tend to increase his vital energy. I can quote in support of my contention such well-known athletes as Hnckenschmidt, the champion wrestler, and Tommy Burns, the champion boxer. Tn their training for their different matches, they always included a short, sharp swim everv dav as a means of bracing themselves up and keeping themselves supple and active. Swimming is not only a splendid sport for women, it is the one spore, with the possible exception of dancing. in which she can fully compete with men. Swimming is a great beautifier. It combines the benefit of a splendid exercise with the invigorating tonic of a plunge hath. To swim successfully one must have control of the muscles. Muscplar control gives poise, and poise is essential to beauty, grace, djgnitv, and confidence. It is undoubted that every man and woman owes it to themselves to bo able to swim. In recent years there has been an enormous increase in the number, of children who are taught to swim, mostly those attending elementary schools. At the same time, a belief seems to be prevalent among parents that children should not he taught to swim until they are over ten°years old, and that to teach them younger is injurious to their health.' Where the idea could have originated I do not know; it s absolute nonsense.