Athletes Use Indoor Season to Prepare for Championships

Track and field athletes, who last year produced 40 world indoor records, probably will be using the 1987 indoor season to prepare for this summer’s world outdoor championships in Rome.

The outdoor championships will be the biggest track and field showcase before the 1988 Summer Olympics and most top athletes are expected to concentrate on getting in shape for that event rather than shooting for indoor records.

“This is going to be a year of pointing toward the world championships,” said Steve Scott, the American record holder in the indoor and outdoor mile. “If the (record) time comes, fine.

“In a year like this, a lot of the athletes don’t go for the fast times until everything is over with. It’s like playing a game of poker; they don’t like to show their hand. They don’t want to show the other athletes their strengths until the world championships.”

The American indoor circuit, however, should attract some excellent athletes. The USA-Mobil Grand Prix begins its 14-meet campaign Jan. 16 with the Sunkist Invitational in the Los Angeles and the Eastman Kodak Invitational in Johnson City, Tenn. The Grand Prix season culminates Feb. 27 with the USA-Mobil Championships in New York.

Most of the top American finishers from the Feb. 27 meet will represent the United States at the first world indoor championships in Indianapolis March 6-8. This season will mark the first year the International Amateur Athletic Federation--the world governing body of track and field--recognizes world indoor records. Previously, they were known as world bests.

Hurdler Renaldo Nehemiah, who quit pro football last season, will compete indoors for the first time since 1982. The IAAF returned Nehemiah’s amateur status over the summer. The former University of Maryland star holds the world mark in the 60-yard high hurdles and the American mark in the 55-meter high hurdles.

Chicago Bears wide receiver Willie Gault may have his amateur status returned. To be reinstated, Gault, a sprinter and hurdler at Tennessee, must present his case to the IAAF.

If Nehemiah is at his best, the hurdles will replace the pole vault as the feature event this year. Greg Foster and Canada’s Mark McKoy each are world-record holders and the competition should be fierce.

“It will be interesting to see if they (Nehemiah and Gault) will be able to compete with the others after playing pro football,” said Howard Schmertz, the meet director for New York’s Wanamaker Millrose Games. “Nehemiah is a good bet though, because he’s been training since July. Willie told me he continues to train. I don’t know how how much speed a (football) hit will take out of a guy.”

The pole vault commanded great attention last year, with three men combining for nine world records. Billy Olson of Dallas and Sergei Bubka of the Soviet Union waged a two-month war for world supremacy. Bubka won out with a leap of 19-6 inches. Bubka and Olson each bettered the world record four times and Joe Dial of Oklahoma did it once.

The Soviets and other Eastern Europeans probably will not come to the United States until the USA-Mobil Championships, but Olson said if he breaks Bubka’s record, they may come early.

“I’d like to see what happens if I set a record,” said Olson, whose personal best is 19-5 1/2. “Don’t be surprised to see him come out. He doesn’t like to be beaten. He’s a lot like me, very competitive. He doesn’t like to see someone take a record he thinks belongs to him.”

The men’s mile could be explosive, with Britain’s Steve Ovett, Ireland’s Marcus O’Sullivan and Spain’s Jose Abascal competing. Eamonn Coghlan of Ireland, the only sub-3:50 indoor miler, underwent surgery in late December and his status for the indoor season is uncertain. Schmertz, however, said Coghlan returned to the United States and is running.

Coghlan, a fan favorite on the indoor circuit, sustained a broken left hand and tissue damage to his calves and thighs when a dog attacked him while training in Dublin.

Mary Decker Slaney, who holds four world middle distance records, will likely miss her second straight indoor season because of surgery on her right Achilles tendon. Slaney sat out the 1986 season because she was pregnant.