Scott Rekindles Fire After Burnout : He Has His Motivation Back After Post-Olympic Blahs

For Steve Scott, last summer’s Olympics were disappointing. He finished a distant 10th in the 1,500-meter final.

“After the Olympics, I had a serious case of burnout,” America’s top miler said at a track luncheon Monday. “I couldn’t get motivated and get my training going.

“Now I’m enthused again. I’ve been training since early March, so I have a couple of months of good training under my belt.”

Ten days ago, Scott ran a 3:37.9 1,500 at Trinidad, finishing second to Olympic 800-meter champion Joaquim Cruz of Brazil. Cruz’s time was 3:37.4.

Last weekend, Scott ran a strong 29:10 in a 10-kilometer race at Laguna Beach.

Scott will run at the California Relays in Modesto this weekend, then he’ll square off with Cruz again at the UCLA-Pepsi meet May 18, where they will run the mile. Scott has won the last five Pepsi miles, but he concedes he is not the favorite this time.

“Cruz is the favorite, then myself and Sydney Maree,” he said. “I won’t reach my peak until later this year, maybe August or September.”

The Olympics were also a disappointment for high hurdler Greg Foster. He didn’t finish 10th, but he didn’t win, either. Roger Kingdom beat him by 3/100ths of a second after everything before that indicated that Foster just about had a lock on the gold medal.

Foster was also at Monday’s luncheon, predicting great things for 1985.

“I had a great indoor season and I’m out to regain my No. 1 status,” he said. “I’m going to set the record this year. I’m not sure when, but it will fall.”

The world record in the 110-meter high hurdles is 12.93, set by Renaldo Nehemiah.

“I don’t know if it will be 12.89, 12.90 or 12.91, but the record is going to fall.”

Foster may get a chance to regain the No. 1 spot at the UCLA-Pepsi meet. Promoter Al Franken said that he is working on getting Kingdom to compete.

Foster said that having the Pepsi meet at UCLA works to his advantage. “UCLA is my home. I train there every day of the week.”

Now, however, the trip to UCLA is a little farther than it used to be. He recently moved from Culver City to Chino Hills, near Diamond Bar, and is glad he did. “I think moving out of the city will help me concentrate on my training more,” he said.

Foster said he will run the 200, or possibly the 100, at Modesto this weekend.

The last time Ruth Wysocki appeared at a Los Angeles track luncheon, she took some verbal shots at Mary Decker Slaney, saying she thought Slaney should have apologized to Zola Budd for her conduct after their collision in the Olympic 3,000.

Since Slaney is injured and won’t be competing in the Pepsi meet, Wysocki couldn’t rekindle the rivalry.

But she did have a story to tell. She said that after going to a boat show with Franken a while back, she decided she wanted to learn to water ski. So she went out to learn three weeks ago, tripped over a cleat on the dock and broke her toe.

“They said I could run on it, and it would still heal,” she said. “So that’s what I’ve been doing, although the pain is difficult to get used to.”

She said the toe should be 100% by the time she runs in the women’s mile at the Pepsi meet. Last Saturday, she ran the 1,500 in 4:14.31 in the New Balance women’s meet at Irvine, which is far off the 4:00.18 she ran when she upset Slaney in the Olympic trials.

In the Olympics, she finished sixth in the 800 and eighth in the 1,500.

Track Notes

The most impressive athlete at Monday’s luncheon was Nigerian discus thrower Christian Okoye, who is in his second year at Azusa Pacific. He’s 6-2 and 255 pounds of muscle, and, according to Azusa Pacific track Coach Terry Franson, has run the 40 in 4.4 seconds. Okoye was fourth in the discus at the recent Mt. San Antonio Relays with a personal best of 212-4, which is the African record. He will compete in the Pepsi meet, where the field will include Imrich Bugar of Czechoslovakia, who has thrown in the 233-foot range. . . . Okoye, a soccer goalie in Nigeria, tried American football for the first time last fall. By Azusa Pacific’s fourth game, he had learned enough to start at fullback. In a game against UC Santa Barbara, he gained 168 yards in only eight carries and had touchdown runs of 82 and 50 yards. Azusa Pacific lost its first four games, then won the remaining six with Okoye starting at fullback. . . . Sherri Howard, who will run in either the 200 or 400 in the Pepsi meet, also tried a new sport recently--body building. She was talked into entering a competition at Cal State Los Angeles by physical education instructor Lonnie Teper, and ended up finishing second. . . . The State Community College meet will be held this weekend at Bakersfield Community College. Also this weekend: The California Collegiate Athletic Assn. meet at Cal State Los Angeles and the Western Collegiate Athletic Assn. women’s meet at UCLA.