OLD AND NEW

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 306, 20 August 1932, Page 6

OLD AND NEW

EXPERTS SAY MODERN ATHLETES SUPERIOR MEN. COULD BEAT GREEKS HOLLOW. London, Saturday. "The modarn athletes at the Olympic Games could run rings around the ancient Greeks," declared Colonel Arthur Lynch, Physician and author, and a graduate of Melbourne University. Rampling would have pulverised Dandes, the Argive. Cornes would have run Arrichion off his legs. Eastman would have lost Ladas. Statues of Greek athletes show magnifieent models of masculine strength and grace, but the moderns are superior. The Greeks were statuesque, but their system of training was unintelligent and their dieting too restricted. They had rare muscular development, but were slow and lacked vitality. The modern athlete in fiiner, with a more vigorous spirit of life pulsating in his arteries. The Greek hoxing was brutal hut slow. For a real thrill there's nothing in Ilomer or Pindar comparahle with A. G. Hale's epic of the JacksonSlavin fight. Breaking records at Los Angeles does not neeessarily mean that men to-day are better than W. G. George and Frank Hewitt. The improvements are due largely to tracks and also to advances in technique.