The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 1928. THE OLYMPIC GAMES.

Hokitika Guardian, 5 April 1928, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 1928. THE OLYMPIC GAMES.

The Olympic Gaines are not conducted as those of yore ill Greece, and consequently there is a good deal of doubt as to their value to sport generally. The London “Daily Express” has recently made a vigorous attack upon these international contests on the ground of the bitter persona! hostility and resentment that they have, caused, and the danger lest these unfortunate differences should prod lire unpleasant political and international reactions. The Games were instituted to raise the standard of athletic achievements and to improve the atmosphere of sport everywhere. But, according to the “Daily Express,” while they have certainly failed to produce this effect, they leave behind them a permanent legacy of jealousy and suspicion which is described as “definitely lowering to the competitors, the committees, and the nations that they represent.” While this condemnation may be too sweeping, the many reports of quarrels arising out of the contests and the charges of partiality and even of foul play that have occasionally been heard seem to provide some justification for the incisive diatribe of the “Daily Express.” Even if we discount heavily the references to “ill-will accusations and recriminations” which are said to have l>een occasioned by these Games it is an open question whether “over-organised semi-professional gatherings” of this type, really do much for the advancement of athletics in the broadest- sense of the term. The difficulty about professionalism is, as the “Daily Express” suggests, a serious one, and it indicates the keenness of the competitive spirit, engendered and the desperate efforts that are made to win distinction at these Games. No doubt the prospect of ultimate material gain plays an important part in many eases in this struggle for world championships; and this atone removes the Olympic Games of to-day infinitely far in spirit from their Greek prototypes, where the victor was hailed as the glory of his birthplace and his nation, and was content with rewards of no intrinsic value. In any case, the tendency to idolise the successful athlete and to exaggerate his importance needs no

encouragement anywhere to-dav, and though we are hardly yet inclined to endorse the “Daily Express” dictum that “the best thing England can do is to drop out of the Games entirely,” we may still wonder, says a contemporary, whether the Dutch Reformed ministers, who are also protesting and discounting the value of the games, are far wrong in their conviction that “the cult of the hero” as illustrated in the Olympic Games may produce a demoralisng rather than an elevating effect upon the whole athletic world. It should he added, however, that under existing conditions athletes throughout the Empire rightly regard it as a point of honour that their own country should be represented at those gatherings, and naturally we join with all other athletic enthusiasts in wishing the New Zealand team which is to compete at Amsterdam all possible success.