Germany and the Olympic Games

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 121, 12 August 1927, Page 10

Germany and the Olympic Games

RE-ADMISSION NEXT YEAR TEUTONS ACTIVELY PREPARING Judging by the performances of German athletes in the past year or two, Germany’s first appearance at the Olympic Games since the war, at Amsterdam next year, will be awaited with a good deal of interest. The erstwhile Huns, as we used to call them some years ago when warhatred was hot and strong, have been organising on a nation-wide scale for next year’s world gathering at Amsterdam. First string in the German list of Olympic championship contenders will undoubtedly be Dr. Peltzer, one of the greatest middle-distance runners the world has seen. A leg mishap is at present causing Peltzer and Germany some anxiety. One of Peltzer’s strongest rivals will be D. G. A. Lowe, the English runner, who pushed the German out to world’s record time in last year’s English A.A.A. championships. Lowe did 1.53 for the half mile in England the other week, so there should be another thrilling tussle when the pair meet on Dutch soil next year. Sprinter Kornig is still Europe’s topnotcher. Not only did he carry off the 100yds English title last month, but he returned to Berlin in time to retain the German 100yds and 220yds titles. Failing Kornig, there is E. Houben, who first came into the limelight in 1923 by defeating the Australian. “Slip” Carr. The blond Teutons will, however, have to step out at their best gait to keep pace with the American contenders. In the American A.A.A. championships last month, Borah and Bowman raced home in a disputed finish in 9 3-ss, faster time than any European has recorded this year, time fast enough to leave such great sprinters as Roland Locke and Jackson Scholz back in the ruck. And even in the long jump where Germany has a man named Dobermann, who can do 24ft, the American contingent will supply a red-hot favourite for the event in the person of the dusky University student, De Hart Hubbard, who is good for 25ft almost any day of the week. There is, however, this much in favour of the German invasion. They will be nearer home and closer to their own conditions of competition than any other nation. The Americans, on the other hand, have in many cases failed to reproduce American form when away from home. As far as Britain is concerned, England’s athletes are content to plod along in the good old-fashioned way without registering much in the way of sensational times, as the Americans do, but when the big guns are firing, old John Bull is generally well up in front lines.