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Show If STAR TRAINS IN , QUEER FASHION 'jF- One of the most interesting figures j hi the Olympic games this year was j Hannes Kohleraainen. the Invincible jl it distance runner, Tho carried the col- J ft ors of Finland to victory In the long z f distance eents in the Swedish stadi- t; a urn. Kohleraainen is without doubt J the greatest distance man the world ,. I haB seen since Alfle Shrubb was at , i? his best and many assert without fear artS 1 of contradiction that the little Finn Is p. jf a faster man than Shrubb' ever was, !$ ff Bays the Evening Bulletin, Phlladel- M ' phla. jj j Kohlemainen was almost unheard .jp y of until a summer ago, when he went fris'f to England for the British champion- cmVi 8hips and stood tbo best of tho Brit" Sn. ons on their heads in the four-mile fil race. At that time the English sport- tf ins writers predicted well that Kohle- V5 l mainen would sweep the boards In S I' the dlstanco events nt Stockholm Ift'.' The young FInlander is a "made' ?A?i? runner, In fact. The methods that gij ) his trainers use to keep his muscles BjJ? 'i supple are, to say the least, unique. $ ' Kohleraainen, to begin with, lives In rgS . a single room with his masseur during j the training season, and the largest ., part of his training consists of steam M I baths and iolent massage. j j After the Finnish champion takes $': his dally run he Is brought Into his ,ljfl( i training room and laid out on a wood-M wood-M 1 6n bench, which Is built about five M feet from the floor. Kohlemainen iff f lies on his back, with his legs polnt-iit polnt-iit Ing upward from the hips. About two y$ feet under the bench on which the rA runner lies Is a large piece of sheet M t metal about -1 by G feet. On this are 9 . about 200 small stones, just thrown I about carelessly Under the metal 'rt h sheet a hot fire is built. Kohlomain-tef Kohlomain-tef ; en stays on hi3 bench above the fire ; In the meantime, and gets into a fu-ij fu-ij j rlous perspiration. U i When the small stones resting on u the metal sheet become quite hot ia : Kohlomalnen's trainer pours small fl I , quantities of water over them, causing ) : eteam to arise and soak through tho I ; runner's muscles. This is continued a '. for a space of 20 minutes. The Fin-, Fin-, I nish champion Is then grabbed off his S bench and -given tho stlffest kind of 45 massage treatment from head to foot, jj Heroic Treatment. 51 : Kohlemalnen's trainer telle me that !; L overy muscle In the linlonder's legs : I Ib pulled away from tho bone bo that ''. It Ib held by the merest membrane. i At times when this muscle pulling 6tunt Is being done Kohlemainen screams with pain, but he lias never Quit under tho punishment. The idea of pulling tho leg muscles away from the bono is to lessen the reBistence when tho muscles are in action. The i tissues that bind the ordinary muscles mus-cles to the bones, In Kohlemalnen's ' case, are entirely free, and this, of course, makes the action of the muscles mus-cles much easier on the runner. : George Bonhag, tho American cham- : pion, -was much interested in the 1 manner in which Kohlemainon was trained. George wanted to try one of those steam baths in tho worst uay, but Kohlemainon's tTalner answered an-swered tho request. "We would ho I delighted to accommodate you, my i dear Mr. Bonhag, but I would strongly ; urge you to defer It until you aro through competing. Even as used as he Is to these baths, Hannes often cries out in distress when we get at his muscles." George said he guessed i- he would wall, j The quostiou that is uppermost In $ th minds of American athletic iol- lowers who have looked over Kohlemainen Kohle-mainen is: What is going to become of Kohlemainen when he stops running? run-ning? What condition will his legs bo in after he quits the cinder" path, with his muscles pulled by main strength away from their natural position? po-sition? The general answer is that Kohlemainen Is taking a big chance of ruining his future health for the sake of a few short seasons of athletic ath-letic fame He Is doing a most unnatural un-natural thing, a thing for which he may have to- pay dearly later in his life. nr |