itl
The introduction of ba sition into the Olyenic program was a success:
in:many ways. First, it-@avre- many: pepresehtet tves-:who.-attended the tournament
an'opportunity to observe the game and to. judge its, qualities. Some of the
countries not representeé-by* #eome-hid “obsorders-te:watel: the games. See
it;gave each country a chance to see the game es pluyed by other nations to
note the similarities in style and the points of differcnee. tauirvd, it helped
in, the development of an, international set of PUL eBay Ane in the method of con-
ducting internationel contests. peat

oy sae GP CMR TOs os ie we be

!

eee s<  Rourth,“it-emphastzed the -differences: in- physical.meke-up .of -the.dif-.
ferent nations. eg: The tallest man on the Philippine team was 5 ft. ll in., and
the tallest man on the American team was, 6 ft. 9 in., This brought out the fact
that tell men were monopolizing the: peme;~ and that- the: ‘shorter reces were handi-
capped, greatly, n not alone in the center jump, but in the whole game. So apparent
was this that,it has been suggested that ‘there be- two classes, - ‘the stort end
the ‘tall, - following ‘the. plen of ‘weight. divisions ‘used’ in wrestling end boxing.’
The next Olympics will be held in Japen whiose Men are ‘less than 5. fet, and whose |
neighbors, China and Philippines, also are short. The onky team ‘with extremely |
tall, men WAS the U.S.A. squad. A medium Tange of from’ s ft. 2 in; ‘S00 1s 2 tai;
was found . on teams from Turkey, Egypt, Switzerland, Ttaly, France, and Caneda. :
These teams have set their cstiméte of extreme height as 6 ft. 3 tt or’190‘¢.m.
Such a limit still would be tao tall Tor shorter beans, partiqularty these from
Oriental nations. A ets: to, si

sive _Firth,~ it gave, a splendid opportunity for the ‘development of friendly
feelings between, the men of the teams, as they’ worked ‘side by side, and yet did”
not try to injure each other. A ‘fine spirit of sportsmanship prevailed and was —
encouraged by all connected with the tournament.

AS 4

COUNTERS RERRES REED.

cae ga a folloning twenty-two nations entered the Siwite: Basketball com~
petition: U.S.A., Canada, Mexico, Poland, Japan, China, Philippines, ~ ~ ~ ~
Switzerland, France, Egypt, Germany, Turkey, Hungery, Uraguay, Brazil,
Italy, Czeckoslovakia, Betgium,™ ‘Esthonid, Pera? and Chili. Spain ehtered
a team but the civil war prevented its appearance.

THE eile i ‘ an
The. courts “were outdoors and were covered with the: same - surface as
the running ‘track. This was made of ¢. mixture of ‘sawdust , sand and. eait. %
resembled in, ‘appearance . the sand on the seashore that is solid ‘when damp but
powdery when dry. The surface was wetted down after each game & and usually was
in good shape. The main ob jeetion was that the surface gave way bene th the foot
on a rapid turn and made pivoting much more difficult. There was “no covering
over the court and, while the weather was ete for most of the gales , the finals
were played in the rain on, 4 sloppy surfec * ot Gm i + tp.
In Berlin there were ‘in the’ Reischport Field several ¢ vane, .Siums con-
nected with the Jahn’ Platz and used for the school of. physical | educdtion. These
would have made ‘excellent courts. The schedule, . however,’ had béen ‘prearranged
making it impossible to. shift events. Fe aN ae

r.
.-*

For the basketball tournement there were ‘in gll'six ‘courts, one of
which was larger than the others and for which the bleachers would atcommodate
more spectators. This court was scheduled for use in the semifinals and finals,
but when used for the semifinals in the rain, it proved so poor that the finals
were shifted to a smaller court. I believe that it would be possible to arrange