1912 Olympic Games Official Report Part 2

piads, it ought to be run during the coolest part of the day. Thedoctors on duty at the Games were of the unanimous opinion thatthe Marathon race, as an athletic feat, is not of such value as to counterbalancethe risk that attends it.B. THE CYCLING ROAD RACE ROUND LAKE MÄLAR.The medical examination of the competitors in the cycling raceround Lake Mälar, took place on July 6 at midday, in one of therooms of the Engelbrekt primary school, Valhallavägen. As, however,a number of the competitors were not present at the examination, DrsE. Levin and K. A. Fries went to the start at Liljeholmen and thereexamined those competitors who had not previously been seen by thedoctors.An accident that could easily have been a most serious one, happenedto a Swedish cyclist, K. J. Landsberg, who, immediately afterstarting, at 5 a. m. on July 7, came into a collision with a carelesslydriven motor car and fell. He was at once carried back in the carto the starting place, where the examination that was at once madeshowed that he was suffering from a slight concussion of the brain andthat he had also received several somewhat severe contusions. Afterthe injured man had been temporarily bandaged and had been givenan injection of morphine, he was taken in an ambulance carriageto St. Mary’s hospital, which he left a week afterwards, quite restoredto health.After having completed the race, a number of the cyclists weretreated at the doctor’s room in the Stadium for contusions and otherslight injuries, got by falling or other accidents on the way. A reportof these is given elsewhere together with that respecting the work ofthe doctors at the Stadium. Apart from these unimportant injuries, allthe competitors that completed the course passed the tape in perfectcondition.C. THE ROWING COMPETITIONS.The measures for giving medical aid at the rowing competitions ofthe Olympic Games were entrusted to Dr Gustaf Wigh, surgeon-captain,attached to the Royal Uppland Infantry.The competitors in the rowing matches were all young men,18—24 years of age, well built and well developed. When half theperiod of training was over, the competitors in the Swedish teamswere examined by Dr Wigh, when their condition in every respectwas found satisfactory in the case of all but one man, who was discoveredto have a somewhat irregular action of the heart, with the cardiacalmurmurs not quite distinct. The same man was examined againafter another fortnight’s training, and was then found to be plainly sufferingfrom enlargement of the heart, with irregular action of the heart,and albumin in the urine. He was advised to leave off training atonce and take a thorough rest, the result of which was, that afterlittle more than a week, he was free from these symptoms and feltquite well again.841