. The Burton Holmes lectures;. ks made braveattempts to prove themselves deserving sons of an immortalrace. But fortune did not favor them. x\thletic sports hadnot been practiced here on classic soil for many generations,and the modern Greeks found themselves outclassed in gameswhich were to them unfamiliar if not totally unknown. THE OLYMPIAN GAMES 63 The triple jump is now contested. What, again ? we ask ourselves, as ConoUy, of Boston, with a victorioushop, skip, and jump, covers forty-five good feet of classicsoil, — enough, more than enough to prove that once morewe have triumphed ; and a
. The Burton Holmes lectures;. ks made braveattempts to prove themselves deserving sons of an immortalrace. But fortune did not favor them. x\thletic sports hadnot been practiced here on classic soil for many generations,and the modern Greeks found themselves outclassed in gameswhich were to them unfamiliar if not totally unknown. THE OLYMPIAN GAMES 63 The triple jump is now contested. What, again ? we ask ourselves, as ConoUy, of Boston, with a victorioushop, skip, and jump, covers forty-five good feet of classicsoil, — enough, more than enough to prove that once morewe have triumphed ; and a moment later up goes the bannerannouncing the first victory of the new Olympiad in thefinals ; and it is the familiar red, white, and blue of theStar Spangled banner that lights up the Grecian sky. And then the discus-throwing is announced. For this,the most truly Greek of all the contests, no American hadoriginally been entered. The discus is familiar to us only inconnection with statues of old athletes in our THK ; MlI-TITTDE 64 THE OLYMPIAN GAMES Our men can put the shot or throw the hammer, but not oneof them has ever seen a discus, much less tried to hurl Greeks, upon the other hand, have long been practicingtheir antique game, and one of their number has acquireda remarkable proficiency, equaling the best recorded throwsof old Olympian victors. Nor was he less beautiful of formor graceful of gesture than the model who served as inspira-tion for the sculptor Myron, hundreds of years ago. Thosewho watched him in practice affirmed that in the grace of hisposes and gestures and in the accuracy of his delivery hecould not have been surpassed by the famous statue itself hadit come to life. Remembering this we are not surprised atthe hesitation of one of our boys, a member of the Princetonteam, when requested at the last moment to enter the listsand, all unprepared, meet the Greek champion in anunfamiliar game. But although he hesitated, he di
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectvoyages, bookyear1901
