Show THE SALT LATTE TRIBUNE? SUNDAY MORNING TONE 21 1931 Mewest the the of mencan Speed Mysteries ing How ihe Art of Swimming Has Seen Revolutionized With the - A vTV n"S "'r I -- wt ' v T i 1 i Introduction of Eight Foot Beats to One Cycle of the Arms lA t nr eesh'L' Ifj V’H trj I- L-- - $r3zm 'pr U - V Edward Keating In Center Winner of the Lake Ceorgo Swimming Marathon Instructing Youngster In the Correct Arm Movement in the American Crawl Embryo crawlers fell into a faster kick than Cavill’s From the very first drive they acquired a four-bea- t Throughout the country coaohes and contestants took up the crawl experimentally Because so little was known of it all kinds of ideas were tested The one idea of that period which proved valuable was conceived by Frank Sullivan of Chicago later coach af Princeton University Sullivan believed as many did those days that tha crawl was solely a sprinting stroke Ho reasoned that all around efficiency could be gained by using the wide scissors kick of the trudgeon and adding three very narrow crawl beats This stroke named the trudgeon-crawas brought into high repute by some of Sullivan’s pupils It became very popular and for a few years was the medium of our competitors The then new and untried threatened for a while to remain in the realm of unexplored theories as coaches and contestants were almost unamimous in declaring the conceived thrash to be entirely too fast and tiring ever to be maintained adequately for more than 100 yards or so And then came assistance from an unexpected source The Women’s Swimming Association! of New York had launched on its meteoric career and commenced to be a factor in the shaping of events In the face of overwhelmingly adverse expert opinion two leading champions of tha Miss Charlotte Boyls organization first then Misa Claire Galllgan gamely undertook to give the condemned stroke a trial fair And to these enterprising pioneer unquestionably we owe tho A ' V wl v y six-be- at Crabbe Who Wow the Mile Event at the National A A U Meet in San Francisco Is Here Photographed - Clarence American Crash Swimming maids of Albton were foremost at the time These standards were bracketed at 1:17 and 6:51 aa against the latest universal marks of 1:01 and 6:31 established this year by Misa Helene Madison seventeen-year-ol- d marvel of Athletic Club of the Washington Seattle The approximate difference in distance indicated by the old and new yards at the cenfigures is thirty-fiv- e tury and one hundred yards at the quarter mile seem presumptuous to claim this extraordinary credit improvement is due Americans for the original crawl was first used by the natives of the Solomon and Hawaiian It may for that full x il Misa Ethel McCary Who Won Long Distance Championship Races Using Foot Both Eight-Beand Ten-BoMovement to Cain Speed at In the American crawl can reasonable distance a lot with much less effort than with the older strokes so they are a deal better fitted for and lifesaving Loss of life by drowning therefore haa been immeasurably reduced in recent years Of the tremendous strides made since its advent the official world’s records speak eloquently In 1905 the men’s standards for the more featured 67 ' regulation events were listed at seconds for 100 yards 5 minutes 26 5 seconds for 440 years end 26 minutes 24 5 seconds for one mile At present John Weissmuller former ace of the Illinois Athletic Club of Chicago holds the mark for the century at 0:61 John Taris of France that for the proficiency cover any faster and ia possible B3ke Charlotte Boyle VTho Introduced tho Footwork to the Crawl la Swimming Contests Six-Be- By L tie B Handley American Coach of Women’ ' Olympic Team of 1932 year have elapied present writing since famous American swimmer first used the crawl successfully in competition and It is interesting on the silver anniversary to glance back over the amasing national and international results brought about by the introduction and development of tho new stroke In America Prior to 1908 the United States trailed fax behind other nations in the natatorial sport Charles M Daniels then a devotee of the trudgeon was the only American champion approaching other topnotchers in skill The rest of the American title holders did not rate above mediocrity But no sooner did the crawl become sexes popular than contestants of both Withbegan to show striking progress in a few years they forced their way to the top and established International leadership by defeating all comers in Olympic contest Then the American crawl gradually found its way to the most remote corners of the globe Eventually it served to revolutionise swimming Today immature boy and girls are able by means of it to outdo the feats achieved by famous men and women exponents of other strokes Far more important those who gain E TWENTY-FIV- 2-- 2-- quarter-mil- e at 457 and Clarence Crabbe 2-- Isles But the claim is warranted nevertheless the latest and most efficient styles of crawl were developed in American waters For better understanding of the Sub- that tha arm ject it needs be explained are movement of the crawl the same as those of the trudgeon stroke which preceded it except for negligible minorchanges 'so that eveiything accomplished must be ascribed to alterations in the leg drive the distinguishing the featureandamong: the several trudgeon varieties of crawL These alterations it may be added have consisted of a gradual narrowing and quickening of the action Cavill of Australia introduced the crawl in the modern rac-Richmond great leap forward which resulted In 1918 they startled aquatic circles by using the supposedly untenable six-be- at to reap laurels in the national 440-ya- rd championship then to shatter records up to one mile a practical demonstration so convincing that the most skeptical were forced to revise their views The stroke won recognition ‘j !’ ' Diagram Showing Movement of Both Arm and Foot in the American Crawl' gruelling century sprint Cavill however did not imitate Wickham faithfully The latter executed four scissoring kicks technically termed “beats” to each full cycle of the arms Cavill performed two kicks only per stroke and combined them with an exceedingly fast choppy arm drive The whirlwind action caused him to ride unusually high in the water and led to the christening of the stroke the r 6 ity Somewhat hazy description of Cavill’s leg drive reached us late in 1903 Then one day members of the New York Athletic Club racing team saw the club instructor Gus Sundstrom give an ex- hibition of what he called swordfish Head arms swimming submerged thrust idly forward Sundstrom used for propulsion a swift fluttering mo" ed tion ' Mis Hm Helene Madison of Seattle t Srv'ntwn-T‘r-oI- d Wlio Manrel of the Washington Athletic All of the Free Style Records for Women Holds Moat Ntwssaoar Vaaturs SanWa i of the feet Some of the Winged Footers were ’s imprested by the similarity of leg thrash to what they had read of Cavill’s Their last doubt was set at rest when Sundstrom a former sailor told them he' had picked up the trick in the South Seas A few immediately proceeded to try the thrash in connection with the trudgeon arm movements Thus the American crawl Sund-atrora- "'h'Prh-t- J i tsit dub was bom marked had taken root that the six-bethe limit of human potentialities in the way of a rapid leg drive Misa Ethel McGary created a sensation by discrawl in winning playing the eight-bethe national championship over a at ile course Two years later Miss McGary again surprised by capturing the long distance title test using on this occasion the ten-beNowadays the majority of racing naiads hold to the eight-beand men contestants are displaying it in steadily increasing numbers It was the eight-hea- t by the way which made it possible for Miss Gertrude Ederie also developed from 'novicehood by the New York association to conquer the English Channel and beat all previous records for the historical course though handicapped by the roughest water ever encountered by swimmers on the course has not found many The ten-berecruits to date but Its advent la so recent that there is no telling what its future may be More and more swimming ia being taught in childhood when muscles are most adaptable As Americans standardized the four-bebefore catching a glimpse of the exponents of the original crawl then developed the six eight and there can be no doubt they are entitled to full credit for the wonderful strides made in swimming during the last at at U the quoted two sets of records could be brought together in actual contest the present holders would defeat the oldtimers by fully twelve yard at the century nearly sixty yard at the quarter and well over three-hundryards at the mile Even greater has been the progress among members of the fair sex While in 1905 the classic tests for women included no race longer than 500 yards and no world’s records for maids were registered the British standards for 100 and 440 yards afford a safe meansof comparison as the mer- “crawl” Cavill’s two-bekick which presently came to be known as the Australia crawl passed into oblivion when the American crawl proved its superior of the Los Angeles Athletic Club that for the mile at 21:27 If the creators of home later abroad But another star of the noted asaociation was destined to write a fresh page in the history of swimming before long In 1922 when the belief at ing field some thirty years ago He learned ' it from Aleck Wickman a native of the Solomons who had taken residence in Sydney and brought it worldwide notice by twlmming 100 yards in close to 68 seconds the first swimmer known to have beaten one minute for the claa- - ’ " at at ten-be- at quarter of a century ' |