Salt Lake Tribune | 1913-10-01 | Page 6 | Great Britain Giving Up

GREAT BRITAIN GIVING UP. It is curious to see that Great Britain is losing heart in international athletics. It is but a few years since Great Britain claimed supremacy over the whole world, not only in athletics, but in all special events so classed. But Great Britain has boon losing wonderfully, especially to America and to Australia, and is gotting disheartened. Her spectacular spec-tacular defeat last year at Stockholm was so incredible to tho English people that they refused to accept the verdict for a long time, and when they did accept it, they did so with, murmurings, bickerings, and bitterness of heart. And now that bitterness seems to have taken the form of sulkinoss. Great Britain will contest in the Olympic games in Berlin in 1010, but word is given out that thenceforth Great Britain will not be represented at all at these games. It is astonishing that the Britons should give up liko this. The British sporting authorities seem to have takou tho wrong view altogether of the American triumphs, not only in tho Olympic games, but all in which tho Americans have beaten tho English, polo, tennis, golf, and pretty much everything in which the contests havo been had. Tho English sportsmen assume as-sume that it is all due to money, and so the' undertook to raise a fund of $500,000 to enable English athlotcs to keep up in thoir training, and, in fact, to become professionals in all but taking tak-ing money and tho name. The astonishing astonish-ing disappointment about raising that monoy has been a snrpriBe to tho world. Not moro than ono-tentb of the money planned for has been subscribed, notwithstanding not-withstanding tho cot-back that failure will bring to English athletics if tho monoy is not raised. Still, it seems to bo the opinion of the public that it is no use for tho Briton to compete with tho Amorican, for in such contests tho Briton almost invariably goos down. Ho is beaten by tho American, the Canadian, Cana-dian, by the Australian, by tho Swede, and the Laplander. Yet wo trust that British pluck may rovivo, and before tho Olympic meet in Berlin in 191G that British courage may so awake as to contest at tho Olympic games there and bo competitors competi-tors for all prizes; and that afterward the Britons will set their teeth and determine to persevere.