Monday, February 2, 2009

Lusting Athletic Themes

Discobolus by Costas Dimitriadis

The description below is from TIME MAGAZINE,
Monday, May. 31, 1926


Probably the world's most famed statue of an athlete is of a discobolus (discus-thrower), by Myron, ancient Greek, restored by Professor Furtwangler. His restoration places the missile-hurler* in exceedingly poor "form," according to modern proceedings.


At the Olympic games two summers ago, another Greek sculptor fashioned a discobolus, along more authentic lines, with models who knew all the facts and intricacies of discus-throwing. He entered it in world competition at Paris, won the grand prize. Last week the statue was unveiled in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a gift to the city by one Ery Kehaya, who designated it "an expression of gratitude from Greeks living in New York to the city that has given them opportunity." The bronze athlete is the work of Costas Dimitriadis, famed Hellene.



*Throwing the discus was revived with the Olympic Games (1896) and has been a recognized event in athletic competitions since that time, becoming very popular in the U. S. The stone discus of antiquity weighed from 4 to 5 lb., although one of bronze was uncovered weighing 8 lb. Thrower Baker, Swarthmore, last week heaved the modern 4%½ lb. discus 139 ft., a new Middle Atlantic record. The world's record (156 ft. 1⅜ in.) was made by J. Duncan of the U. S. on May 27, 1912.

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