V 13 N. 15 Description of a British Track Meet in 1937 and Incorrect Statue of Discobolos

 I was cleaning out electronic files this past weekend and found an older article from Night and Day  July 22, 1937.   There was some very interesting track trivia written by T.O. Beachcroft, a British writer who was in a creative lull at the time.  An earlier novel had been highly praised but a new one published in 1937 was panned.  Maybe he needed some loose change and had an interest in 'athletics' and got this article into Night and Day.  The magazine was short lived and its layout was almost identical to The New Yorker.  It was put out of business in a lawsuit involving the writer Graham Greene.  Anyway it is about the British National Championships of that year which were visited by a German contingent including the famous long jumper Lutz Long who had finished second to Jesse Owens and whose friendship with Owens at the Nazi games received a lot of publicity.   Also in the Nazi team was Hans Woellke the Olympic shot put champ who like Long would die in WWII, although Woellke's death was not an honorable one.  He was a member of the SS and was killed by Bylorusian partisans.  In retribution the Germans killed everyone in a nearby village by putting them in a barn and setting it on fire.

Another interesting reference in Beachcroft's article is about the classic Greek statue of the discus thrower and how a restoration of the one in the British  museum incorrectly put the head at the wrong angle.  There were lots of copies of the famous statue by Myron found over the years, but this one is wrong. (See article below).

In looking more closely at this material I realized we at Once Upon a Time in the Vest had published this info and it had been donated to us by John Cobley of Racingpast.ca.   So if I had forgotten it, you dear reader may have also forgotten.  Here is a reprint of our article from five years ago.   I've also added some more detail about the classic discus statue and a link to an auction of Lutz Long's medals and awards that was held last year.  His silver medal in the Berlin Olympics long jump went for $488,000. 

Here begins our previous article from Vol. 8 No. 29 of Once Upon a Time in the Vest.

John Cobley creator of the running blog  Racing Past  (www.racingpast.ca) sent me this 1937 report of the British A.A.A. championships written in a non athletic journal  Night and Day   which copied the style and layout of The New Yorker.   Written by T.O. Beachcroft in a literary and humourous style, it conveys the time and the sentiment of the day.  Foreign athletes were frequently participating in British Championships and may still be welcome for all I know, even though several had serious difficulties securing visas to compete in the recent indoor world championships held in England this past winter.  We've looked for photos of some of the participants and added them below the article.

John's comments on this article were: 

 Thought you might enjoy this. It comes from Night and Day, a British journal that tried to copy the New Yorker in 1937 and lasted only six months. It nevertheless had some brilliant writers—Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh, Elizabeth Bowen. I have the book of all the editions.

Thomas Owen Beachcroft was a short story writer of some repute. I am not sure what he did as a runner. He is covered by Wikipedia.

For George: The “neat throw to cover point” is an allusion to cricket. The attempt at humour in the relevant paragraph is pretty poor. 

I find the German undercurrent the most interesting aspect here. Good insight into attutudes of 1937.

Enloy……………..John

PS Note the drawing at the start. Now that is funny. I count ten sports there, but no athletics!.

If you have trouble reading the 3rd column below, go to the bottom of your screen, place your cursor on the horizontal gray bar and slide it to the right,  the picture will move to left so you can read that column.

Here are a few bits and pieces we've found about the personalities mentioned in this article

Sydney Wooderson
PRs  440 49.4 (1938)
800 m 1:48.4 (1938)
1500m 3:48.4
Mile 4:04.2 (1945)
5000 m 14:08.6 (1945)

Karl Hein and Erwin Blask  German gold and
silver Berlin 1936   HT.   Hein won on his last throw in Berlin.

Link:    Berlin Hammer Competition on Youtube

Willy Schroeder    Discus thrower Willy Schröder set a world record in 1935 with 53.10, and won the 1938 European title. In 1936 and 1937 he was German Champion and in 1938 German Police Champion. At the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games Schröder placed fifth. By profession he was a policeman.

Personal Best: DT – 53.10 (1935).  Sport Reference and Getty Images

Myron's Discobolus

Townley Discobolus  with incorrectly restored
head.   British Museum

R.L. Howland  (upper left) and Lord Burghley (lower left) 1934

Arthur Collyer nipping Frank Handley in the
aformentioned 880 yards in 1:53.3

Stelios Kyriakidis

Stelios Kyriakidis was born on Cyprus and won several distance running titles at the 1932 Pan-Cyprian Games. Later that year he won the Greek national marathon title, and was soon chosen to compete for Greece in the marathon at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where he finished 11th. Kyriakidis was a 14-time winner at the Pan-Cyprian Games and an 11-time Greek National Champion. He also competed at the 1948 London Olympics.

Kyriakidis joined the Greek resistance during World War II, and during the Nazi occupation of his homeland, he twice evaded execution when he was recognized by his Nazi tormenters as an Olympic athlete. After the war, he was emaciated, having lost much weight, and sold his furniture to buy a ticket to the United States to run in the 1946 Boston Marathon, although he was also supported by Greek-Americans Giorgios and Spyros Demeter. His goal in running was not just to try to win the marathon, but to persuade Americans to help send food and supplies to his war-torn nation. Near the end of the 1946 Boston Marathon Kyriakidis was running alongside his close friend [Johnny Kelley], when an older Greek-American in the crowd yelled out, “For Greece, for your children.” Inspired, Kyriakidis pulled away to win the race, considered perhaps the most emotional victory ever at the Boston Marathon.

Kyriakidis was successful in his other goal, as his efforts helped raise over 25,000 tons of supplies for his homeland. When he returned to Greece, over 1,000,000 Greeks lined the streets of Athina to greet him, a ceremony was held in his honor at the Temple of Zeus, and the Acropolis was illuminated in his honor, the first such lighting after World War II. He was later given the Grand Cross of the Phoenix by the Greek King. In 2004 a statue of Kyriakidis was placed one mile beyond the Hopkinton starting line of the Boston Marathon, entitled “The Spirit of the Marathon.” A copy of the same statue was also placed in Marathon, Greece.

Personal Best: Mar – 2-29:27 (1946).  from Sports Reference

Stelios Kyriakidis

Statue in Boston of Kyriakidis and Spiridon Louis

Kyriakidis

Donald McNab Robertson and Dunky Wright lead the Fiery Cross Relay from Edinburgh Castle

Hans Woellke mentioned as 1936 Olympic shot put champion would later be known infamously as a former SS officer in WWII

Woellke winning in Berlin 1936

Woellke as a police lieutenant

Early Adidas shoe worn by Woellke.  Shot was thrown from a cinder surface to account for the spikes

Shot putter Hans Woellke finished third in the 1938 European Championships, while at the 1934 Europeans he came in eighth. His greatest moment came at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games when he won gold. This was the first ever male German Olympic title in athletics events, a feat which was recorded in the Leni Riefenstahl Olympic film “Olympia.” In 1937 Woellke set an indoor world record. He was German Champion 1934-38 and 1941-42.

As a policeman Woellke was promoted to lieutenant for his Olympic triumph by Nazi leaders Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler. Woellke served as guard in prison camps. He was killed in action in 1943 on the Eastern front as a police captain in a Waffen SS Police Regiment. Khatyn was a normal, peaceful Belarusian village of 26 households. On the morning of 22 March 1943 partisans fired at a German convoy from 6 km away, and Woellke was killed in a shootout. Soon after that, German soldiers surrounded Khatyn, herding the citizens, including the elderly, women, and children, into a barn, where they were locked up and burned. The fire killed 149 people including 75 children. Woellke is buried in a cemetery in Minsk.  Sport Reference

Excellent post, George and John. 'Night and Day', under the editorship of author Graham Greene, was the leading literary magazine of its time. Its short life was due to the law-suit for libel provoked by an article by Greene alleging that one of the reasons for the success of the films of child-star Shirley Temple (later Ambassador Shirley Temple Gray) was their appeal to paedophiles. Of course he was right (check out e.g. clips from 'The Good Ship Lollipop'), but the Judge didn't see it that way. The plaintiffs (20th Century Fox) were awarded heavy damages and Greene was threatened with a prison sentence. 'Night and Day' closed down.

Cheers,

Tim Johnston   

editor's note:  Tim Johnston is the author of the excellent book His Own Man, The Biography of  Otto Peltzer reviewed in this blog:
Book review

Links

Lutz Long Medals

Photos of Long from Auction     The reader may find the photos a bit difficult to manage and they cannot be copied of pasted.  They were sold so there is no access to them at this time.

I'm sure most of our readers have seen this statue of the ancient thrower of the Discobolus and wondered how the heck the guy managed to throw in that position.  The article below admits the

sculptor was in error.  Still the story of the history of the stature you may find entertaining.  And of

course the ill placement of the head in one particular restoration which you can still see at the British Museum.  

Discobolus – Discus Thrower

Discobolus – Discus Thrower

The “Discobolus of Myron” is a Greek sculpture that represents a youthful ancient Greek athlete throwing a discus. The original Greek bronze from about 460–450 BC is lost, but the work is known through numerous Roman copies.

Copies of the Discobolus have been discovered of both full-scale ones in marble, which was cheaper than bronze, and smaller scaled versions in bronze. Historic discoveries include:

• Discobolus Palombara – Lancellotti – National Roman Museum
• Townley Discobolus – British Museum
• Roman Bronze Discobolus – Glyptothek, Munich

The “Discus Thrower” is depicted as he is about to release his throw and was modeled to represent a human coil of energy ready to explode.

The Greek sculptor, known as Myron, is credited with being the first sculptor to master this style. Myron was one of the first to perfect the depiction of the human body twisting in its vertical axis.

The “Discobolus” embodies the Greek concept of “symmetria” in which statues of young athletes are balanced, rhythmical, and finely detailed. It is a freer use of contrapposto, which helped liberate Greek sculpture from its tradition of rigid poses.

The sculptor has created a unique moment just before the action that is so transitory that modern athletes debate the harmony and balance of the composition. Today, his pose is considered by current athletes as an inefficient way to throw the discus.

Discobolus Palombara – Lancellotti at the National Roman Museum at Palazzo Massimo

Discobolus Palombara – Lancellotti

The “Discobolus Palombara” was the first copy of this famous sculpture to have been discovered. It is a 1st-century AD copy of the original bronze.

It was found in 1781 at a Roman property of the Massimo family at the Villa Palombara on the Esquiline Hill. It was instantly famous, and it was installed initially in the Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne and then at Palazzo Lancellotti.

In 1937 Adolf Hitler negotiated to buy it and eventually succeeded in 1938. The Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs sold it to him for five million lire, over the protests from the scholarly community.

It was shipped to Munich and displayed in the Glyptothek. It was returned in 1948 and is now in the National Museum of Rome, displayed at the Palazzo Massimo.

Discobolus Palombara

• Title:                    Discobolus Palombara
• Date:                  140 AD
• Material:             Marble
• Discovered:        1781 – Esquiline Hill, Rome
• Type:                   Sculpture
• Museums:           National Roman Museum at Palazzo Massimo

Townley Discobolus

Townley Discobolus at the British Museum

Townley Discobolus

The “Townley Discobolus” was the second notable Discobolus discovered. It was excavated, in 1790, at Hadrian’s Villa and was purchased by an English antiquary and art dealer, at public auction in 1792.

The English connoisseur Charles Townley paid Jenkins £400 for the statue. The head was wrongly restored, but Townley was convinced he had the original and a better copy.

It was bought for the British Museum, with the rest of Townley’s marbles, in 1805.

Townley Discobolus

• Title:                   Townley Discobolus
• Date:                  140 AD
• Material:             Marble
• Discovered:        1790 – Hadrian’s Villa, Tivoli, Italy.
• Type:                   Sculpture
• Museums:           British Museum