1912 Olympic Games Official Report Part 2

Germany asked to have Cycle-Polo and Figure-Cycling placed onthe programme, but the Committee considered that it could not complywith this request; first, as far as Cycle-Polo was concerned, becauseit would be impossible to procure a suitable ground for such an eventwithout going to very great expense, and, secondly, with regard toFigure-Cycling, because this sport could not be considered as beingof such athletic importance as to deserve a place on the Olympicprogramme.THE METHOD OF STARTING.Proposals and criticisms respecting the method of carrying out therace were received from many quarters, most of them dealing withthe same subject, however, and asking for an alteration of the planof starting. It was to be expected, of course, that the regulationthat the competitors were to start one at a time, at intervals of acouple of minutes, would awaken much opposition abroad, where thecustom is for all the riders to start at once. The question had beenmost thoroughly discussed by the Committee, however. For onething, the probable number of competitors was not yet known, althoughthe Committee imagined that there might be 100, at most. Withsuch a number, how would it be possible to have all the competitorsstarting at once in an international race of such importance, and onour Swedish roads, which can by no means be compared with the fine,broad highways of France, Germany or Great Britain, which almostseem to have been constructed with a special view to such competitions.The thought of a simultaneous start, therefore, was at once banished,especially as the Committee was well aware that the Policeauthorities would never give their consent to such a proposal. And,we may ask, what would have been the result of letting all the 123competitors that actually took part in the event, starting at one andthe same time?The next idea of the Committee was, to let the competitors startin groups, but it was difficult to draw up the scheme necessary forsuch a method several months in advance, the Committee having noidea, at the time, of the number of nations that intended to compete,or of how many representatives would be entered by the countries inquestion. In addition to this, the police absolutely forbade any otherkind of start excepting that of sending the riders off one at a time,on account of the traffic along the roads.It was determined, then, that the method of starting long employed,and approved of, in Sweden, should be used for the race in question.The Committee resolved that there should be an interval of 3 minutesbetween two starters, but this had to be altered, and the intervalfixed at 2 minutes, instead.THE PREVENTION OF PACING.Another thing which, long before the event came off, was subjectedto much criticism, was the rule: “Pacing by non-competitors is strictlyforbidden during the race”, although, according to the method employed429