Salt Lake Tribune | 1908-07-12 | Page 18 | Twenty-Five Hundred Men for Olympic

TWEBIY-FIVE HUNDRED HEH FDR OLYMPIC Lord Desborough Considers United States the Most Dangerous Rival. Tribune Special Sporting Service. LONDON, July n.. Tliore aro twenty-four countries or colonies competing in tho Olympic games, and the number of entries is expected lo be in the neighborhood neigh-borhood of 2500. Lord Desborough, president of the British Olympic council, coun-cil, considers tho United States tho most dangerous rival of England. It is in the distance runs, walking, swimmiug and diving that lio thiuka England has an advantage. Speaking of tho coming games. Cord .Desborough says: "Our arrangements with "tho France-Brilioh France-Brilioh exposition have sccurod for us an arena for tho games which so far has been uuapproached in size and convenience. con-venience. "As to tho prospects of British athletes ath-letes it is not an easy question to answer, an-swer, but personally 1 bclievo we shall do much bettor than in previous Olympic Olym-pic games. The country where tho games aro held naturally has an advantage; ad-vantage; tho entries, however, aro limited lim-ited in all events, which will help the visiting countries. "In field and track athletes I cs pect the United States representatives will bo very strong, and we shall nave to do our besbto hold our own. ''Then there are many events in which our foreign visitors start under better auspices tha.n ourselves, perhaps; per-haps; in throwing tho discus, for ox-ample, ox-ample, and tho .iavclin. both now sports to most Englishmen. The distances are measured by meters, not yards. "But, as T say, on the whole wo oight to do well, ospepially in tho lopg-distance lopg-distance running, swimming and high diving. In any case, however, though I should naturally wish to see our men as successful as possible, I do not think strong competition by our foreign visitors vis-itors and even defeat of our own representatives, rep-resentatives, would be anything but good for international sport. "These game3 have an aspect much wider than the success of any particular particu-lar nation. Thoy are the expression of the undoubted "spread of athleticism among the civilized countries of the world and of the international character which all sport has been assuming during dur-ing the last quarter of a contury. "To me this widening in tho interest taken in manly exercises is a vory good augury, and wo of the British Olympic council wish it every succoss, even at tho coHt of tho temporary success of our own athletes. The periodical meeting of the flower of the youth and early manhood of tho competing nations, the representatives, in fact, of tho generation in whose hands the immediate destinies of theso countries lie, is to me a matter of very great results hereafter. "Personally, I regard tho Olympic games as a factor making for poace in European politics certainly as valuable as those other periodical meetings at The Hague."