The Times/GTE Indoor Games : Scott to Defend 2,000 Record Against Coghlan

Steve Scott, the miler and country gentleman who lives on a two-acre spread in Fallbrook, will be in town tonight to protect his interests.

Scott, America’s premier miler for the last decade, is the world indoor record-holder in the 2,000 meters at 4 minutes 58.6 seconds.

But Eamonn Coghlan, who already holds the world record for the indoor mile, has designs on Scott’s 2,000 mark.

The Irishman intends to break the record, if possible, tonight in The Times/GTE Indoor Games at the Forum.

“I’m going to be inspired, especially if Eamonn is close to the record, because it’s something I have and I’m possessive about it,” Scott said.

A 2,000-meter race is about a mile and a quarter, and tonight’s field is first-rate. Besides Scott and Coghlan, the participants are New Zealand’s John Walker, Ireland’s Ray Flynn and Paul Donovan, Tanzania’s Suleiman Nyambui, and Doug Padilla and Kelly Britz.

Britz is the designated rabbit, a function he served in fast races in Europe last summer.

It has been Coghlan’s style in the mile to make his charge with 80 or even 60 yards left in a race, as he did in winning at the Millrose Games and U.S. Olympic Invitational meets.

The distance is longer tonight, and Scott says that if Coghlan is serious about setting a record, he might have to alter his tactics.

“If he’s going for a record, he’ll have to do some running out front by himself,” Scott said. “He’ll have to start charging with a full quarter to go, which is about 2 3/4 laps.”

Scott figures that the record will fall if the runners have even-paced, 60-second laps each quarter-mile, coming through the mile in 4:01 or 4:02.

Coghlan is the man to beat, but Scott said that Donovan may be the sleeper. He out-kicked Padilla, who has a strong finish, in winning a 3,000-meter race in 7:47.95 last Saturday in the U.S. Olympic Invitational meet at East Rutherford, N.J.

Scott, the American indoor and outdoor record-holder in the mile, says he has not performed up to his standard on the indoor circuit this season.

He has failed to break four minutes in the mile in two races, the Sunkist Invitational and the Olympic Invitational meet.

“I feel healthy and strong and I thought I was capable of running a 3:55 mile,” Scott said. “The Meadowlands race was messed up with a slow, early pace, but I just didn’t have it in the last quarter.

“I guess I just wasn’t race fit. But, perhaps, I needed that race to blow out the carburetor, so to speak.”

Scott, the world’s third-ranked metric miler last year, wants to make a good showing tonight, but he is gearing his training to the outdoor season.

He said he will have to peak twice, once in the U.S.A/Mobil outdoor championship meet at San Jose June 25-27, and again in the World championship meet Aug. 29-Sept. 6 at Rome, where he plans to run in the 1,500 meters.

There have been many suggestions why there are so few, world-class milers in the United States, among them the emphasis placed on other sports here, lack of blanket coverage by television and newspapers, and soft life style by American youngsters.

Scott said that role models play an important part in the development of an athlete.

“In Ireland and Great Britain, all the youths want to emulate the greats of their country,” he said. “Eamonn has been around for 10 years. So a kid who was 10 years old when Eamonn started is now 20.

“And the kids want to be another Eamonn Coghlan, and it’s the same in England where there is a much longer heritage for milers. This could continue for centuries.

“The Coes, Crams and Ovetts have been a shot in the arm for British athletics. But, in Britain, you have only two major sports, soccer and track.

“In this country you have to go pretty far down the line to find a kid who is serious about running. The rest of them are interested in football, basketball and baseball.

“And I think the coverage has a lot to do with it. In England and throughout Europe, almost every track meet is shown live on TV.”

Scott doesn’t buy the theory advanced by Coghlan and Walker that American youths are turned off by running because of a softer life style compared to other countries.

“There are plenty of kids who aren’t well off in this country.” Scott said. “A lot of kids don’t have opportunities, so they use athletics as a way out.

“But they don’t see a chance to further themselves in track as they do in other sports. You can be good in track but only about 3% make the real good money in the sport.”

He also said that training to become a distance runner is arduous, tedious work.

“Distance running takes a lot of time and dedication and years and years of background work,” he said. “It’s not a God-given talent, like speed. You can’t step on the track and be a 3:52 miler, but you can step on and run a 10.1 100 meters.

“Basketball, for example, is a lot of work and dedication, but it’s fun. I hated training when I was young. But now it’s a profession. If I don’t go out and train, I would suffer for it. I enjoy it now and it’s part of my life. I don’t feel good unless I go out and train every day.

“I think a lot of people aren’t willing to put out the effort to be a middle distance runner because they don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.

“If track were the No. 2, or even No. 5 sport in this country, we’d dominate in every event.”

“Come to think of it, if baseball, football and basketball were big-time sports in England and Ireland, we’d drive away all their milers.”

Track Notes

Tonight’s open portion of the meet will start at 6:30 with the first heat of the women’s 60-meter hurdles. Sprinter Evelyn Ashford had to scratch from the meet because she has the flu. . . . Some of the featured events and participants: Mile--Ireland’s Marcus O’Sullivan and Frank O’Mara, Spain’s Jose Abascal, Jim Spivey, Australia’s Mike Hillardt and Canada’s Dave Campbell; Pole vault--Earl Bell, Billy Olson, Joe Dial and Mike Tully; 60-meter hurdles--Greg Foster, Mark McKoy and Tonie Campbell; 60-meter dash--Calvin Smith, Harvey Glance and Emmit King; 800 meters--Johnny Gray, Britain’s Peter Elliott and Venezuela’s William Wuyke; High jump--Jim Howard, Doug Nordquist and Milt Ottey; Triple jump--Mike Conley and Al Joyner.

Women’s field: 60 meters--Alice Brown and Jeanette Bolden; 60-meter hurdles--Jackie Joyner-Kersee; 200--Valerie Brisco-Hooks; 400--Diane Dixon and Lillie Leatherwood; Mile--Romania’s Maricica Puica; High jump--Debbie Brill and Louise Ritter; Long jump.