International athletic contests of any importance have, with the exception of the modern Olympic games, invariably taken place between Britons, Americans and Canadians, the continental European countries having as yet produced few track or field athletes of the first class, although the interest in sports in general has greatly increased in Europe during the last ten years. In 1844 George Seward, an American professional runner, visited England and competed with success against the best athletes there; and in 1863 Louis Bennett, called “Deerfoot,” a full-blooded Seneca Indian, repeated Seward’s triumphs, establishing running records up to 12 miles. In 1878 the Canadian, C.C. McIvor, champion sprinter of America, went to England, but failed to beat his British professional rivals. In 1881 L.E. Myers of New York and E.E. Merrill of Boston competed successfully in England, Myers winning every short-distance championship except the 100-yards, and Merrill all the walking championships save the 7-miles. The same year W.C. Davies of England won the 5-mile championship of America, but, like several other British runners who have had success in America, he competed under the colours of an American club. In 1882 the famous English runner, W.G. George, ran against Myers in America in races of 1 mile, ¾ mile and ½ mile, winning over the first two distances. In 1884 Myers again went to England and made new British records over 500, 600, 800 and 1000 yards, and world’s records over ½ mile and 1200 yards. The next year he won both the British ¼-mile and ½-mile championships. The same year a team of Irish athletes, among them W.J.M. Barry, won several Canadian championships. In 1888 a team of the Manhattan Athletic Club, New York, competed in England with fair success, and during the same season an Irish team from the Gaelic Athletic Association visited America without much success. In 1890 a team from the Salford Harriers was invited to America by the Manhattan Athletic Club, but the evidently commercial character of the enterprise caused its failure. One of the Harriers, E.W. Parry, won the American steeplechase championship. The next year saw another visit to Europe of the Manhattan athletes, who had fair success in England and won every event at Paris. In 1895 the London Athletic Club team competed in New York against the New York Athletic Club, but lost every one of the eleven events, several new records being established. During the previous summer (1894) occurred the first of the international matches between British and American universities which still retain their place as the most interesting athletic event. In that contest, which took place at Queen’s Club, London, Oxford beat Yale by 5½ to 3½ events. The next summer Cambridge, as the champion English university, visited America and was beaten by Yale (3 to 8). In 1899 both British universities competed at Queen’s Club against the combined athletes of Harvard and Yale, who were beaten by the odd event. The return match took place between the same universities at New York in the summer of 1901, the Americans winning 6 to 3 events. In 1904 Harvard and Yale beat Oxford and Cambridge at Queen’s Club by the same score.
Outside Great Britain and America the most important athletic events are undoubtedly the revived Olympic games. They were instituted by delegates from the different nations who met in Paris on the 16th of June 1894, principally at the instigation of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the result being the formation of an International Olympic Games Committee with Baron de Coubertin at its head, which resolved that games should be held every fourth year in a different country. The first modern Olympiad took place at Athens, 6th to 12th April 1896, in the ancient stadium, which was rebuilt through the liberality of a Greek merchant and seated about 45,000 people. The programme of events included the usual field and track sports, gymnastics, wrestling, pole-climbing, lawn tennis, fencing, rifle and revolver shooting, weight-lifting, swimming, the Marathon race and bicycle racing. Among the contestants were representatives of nearly every European nation, besides Americans and Australians. Great Britain took little direct interest in the occasion and was inadequately represented, but the United States sent five men from Boston and four from Princeton University, who, though none of them held American championships, succeeded in winning every event for which they were entered. The Marathon race of 42 kilometres (26 miles), commemorative of the famous run of the Greek messenger to Athens with the news of the victory of Marathon, was won by a Greek peasant. The second Olympiad was held in Paris in June 1900. Again Great Britain was poorly represented, but American athletes won eighteen of the twenty-four championship events. The third Olympiad was held at St Louis in the summer of 1904 in connexion with the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, its success being due in great measure to James E. Sullivan, the physical director of the Exposition, and Caspar Whitney, the president of the American Olympic Games Committee. The games were much more numerous than at the previous Olympiads, including sports of all kinds, handicaps, inter-club competitions, and contests for aborigines. In the track and field competitions the American athletes won every championship except weight-throwing (56 ℔) and lifting the bar. The sports of the savages, among whom were American Indians, Africans of several tribes, Moros, Patagonians, Syrians, Ainus and Filipinos, were disappointing; their efforts in throwing the javelin, shooting with bow and arrow, weight-lifting, running and jumping, proving to be feeble compared with those of white races. The Americanized Indians made the best showing.
The Greeks, however, were not altogether satisfied with the cosmopolitan character of the revival of these celebrated games of their ancestors, and resolved to give the revival a more definitely Hellenic stamp by intercalating an additional series, to take place at Athens, in the middle of the quadrennial period. Their action was justified by the success which attended the first of this additional series at Athens in 1906. This success may have been partly due to the personal interest taken in the games by the king and royal family of Greece, and to the presence of King Edward VII., Queen Alexandra, and the prince and princess of Wales; but to whatever cause it should be assigned it was generally acknowledged that neither in France nor in America had the games acquired the same prestige as those held on the classical soil of Greece. In 1906 the governments of Germany, France and the United States made considerable grants of money to defray the expenses of the competitors from those countries. These games aroused much more interest in England than the earlier ones in the series, but though upwards of fifty British competitors took part in the contests, they were by no means representative in all cases of the best British athletics. The American representatives were slightly less numerous, but they were more successful. It was noteworthy that no British or Americans took part in the rowing races in the Bay of Phalerum, nor in the tennis, football or shooting competitions. The Marathon race, by far the most important event in the games, was won in 1906 by a British athlete, M.D. Sherring, a Canadian by birth. The Americans won a total of 75 prizes, the British 39, and the Swedes and Greeks each 28.
The games of the 4th Olympiad (1908) were held in London in connexion with the Franco-British Exhibition of that year. An immense sensation was caused by the finish for the Marathon race from Windsor Castle to the stadium in the Exhibition grounds in London. The first competitor to arrive was the Italian, Dorando Pietri, whose condition of physical collapse was such that, appearing to be on the point of death, he had to be assisted over the last few yards of the course. He was therefore disqualified, and J. Hayes, an American, was adjudged the winner; a special prize was presented to the Italian by Queen Alexandra. In the whole series of contests the United Kingdom made 38 wins, the Americans 22, and the Swedes 7. In the Olympic games proper, British athletes, including two wins by colonials from Canada and Africa, scored 25 successes, and the Americans 18. In the track events 8 wins fell to the British, including two Colonials, and 6 to American athletes; but the latter gained complete supremacy in the field events, of which they won 9, while British competitors secured only two of minor importance.
For records, &c., see the annual Sporting and Athletic Register; for the Olympic games see Theodore Andrea Cook’s volume, published in connexion with the Olympiad of 1908.
ATHLONE, a market-town of Co. Westmeath, Ireland, on both banks of the Shannon. Pop. of urban district (1901) 6617. The urban district, under the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1900, is wholly in county Westmeath, but the same area is divided by the Shannon between the parliamentary divisions of South Westmeath and South Roscommon. Athlone is 78 m. W. from Dublin by the Midland Great Western railway, and is also served by a branch from Portarlington of the Great Southern & Western line, providing an alternative and somewhat longer route from the capital. The main line of the former company continues W. to Galway, and a branch N.W. serves counties Roscommon and Mayo. The Shannon divides the town into two portions, known as the Leinster side (east), and the Connaught side (west), which are connected by a handsome bridge opened in 1844. There is a swivel railway bridge. The rapids of the Shannon at this point are obviated by means of a lock communication with a basin, which renders the navigation of the river practicable above the town. The steamers of the Shannon Development Company ply on the river, and some trade by water is carried on with Limerick, and with Dublin by the river and the Grand and Royal canals. Athlone is an important agricultural centre, and there are woollen factories. The salmon fishing both provides sport and is a source of commercial wealth. There are two parish churches, St Mary and St Peter, both erected early in the 19th century, of which the first has near it an isolated church tower of earlier date. There are three Roman Catholic chapels, a court-house and other public offices. Early remains include portions of the castle, of the town walls (1576), of the abbey of St Peter and of a Franciscan foundation. On several islands of the picturesque Lough Ree, to the north, are ecclesiastical and other remains.
The military importance of Athlone dates from the erection of the castle and of a bridge over the river by John de Grey, bishop of Norwich and justiciar of Ireland, in 1210. It became the seat of the presidency of Connaught under Elizabeth, and withstood a siege by the insurgents in 1641. In the war of 1688 the possession of Athlone was considered of the greatest importance, and it consequently sustained two sieges, the first by William III. in person, which failed, and the second by General Godart van Ginkel (q.v.), who, on the 30th of June 1691, in the face of the Irish, forded the river and took possession of the town, with the loss of only fifty men. Ginkel was subsequently created earl of Athlone, and his descendants held the title till it became extinct in 1844. In 1797 the town was strongly fortified on the Roscommon side, the works covering 15 acres and containing two magazines, an ordnance store, an armoury with 15,000 stands of arms and barracks for 1500 men. The works are now dismantled. Athlone was incorporated by James I., and returned two members to the Irish parliament, and one member to the imperial parliament till 1885.
ATHOL, a township of Worcester county, northern Massachusetts, U.S.A., having an area of 35 sq. m. Pop. (1900) 7061, of whom 986 were foreign-born; (1910 U.S. census) 8536. Its surface is irregular and hilly. The village of Athol is on Miller’s river, and is served by the Boston & Albany and the Boston & Maine railways. The streams of the township furnish good water-power, and manufactures of varied character are its leading interests. Athol was first settled in 1735, and was incorporated as a township in 1762. It was named by its largest landowner Col. James Murray, after the ancestral home of the Murrays, dukes of Atholl.