Greg Foster’s Shot at Olympics in Doubt : Top-Ranked Hurdler Breaks Left Arm During Routine Workout at Pomona

Greg Foster, the world’s top-ranked hurdler who has endured a number of spectacular spills during races, suffered a severely broken left arm Monday after tripping over a hurdle in a routine warmup drill at Cal Poly Pomona.

It is doubtful whether Foster, who had emergency surgery at San Dimas Community Hospital Monday afternoon, will be able to compete at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials, the meet that will determine who will compete in the Seoul Games in September. The trials will begin July 15 at Indianapolis, but heats for Foster’s event, the 110-meter hurdles, will not be held until July 22.

If he does not compete, it will be a blow to the United States’ Olympic track and field chances, having already lost John Brenner, a highly regarded shotputter who suffered a season-ending knee injury in mid-June.

Foster, 29, is the two-time defending world champion, having won his second title last summer in Rome. He also won a silver medal in the 1984 Olympics, finishing behind U.S. teammate Roger Kingdom.

Bob Kersee, previously Foster’s coach and now his adviser, said it is unlikely the hurdler can come back so soon, but Foster has not given up hope of making the U.S. Olympic team.

“It is impossible to conceive that he could overcome this, but it is our hope that his experience will get him through,” Kersee said.

Kersee, the husband of Jackie Joyner-Kersee, a world-class decathlon competitor, said the arm is expected to heal in six to eight weeks. He said Foster could compete in Seoul without pain if he qualifies for the team.

Qualifying, however, will be difficult. The 110-meter hurdles includes a talented group, including Kingdom, who defeated Foster recently in their last two head-to-head competitions. Only the top three in the trials qualify for the Olympic team.

Arms are essential in hurdling, Kersee said, because they help runners gain speed while also helping them keep their balance.

Foster, who had two pins inserted to hold the broken bones together, will remain in the hospital at least three days, and then will begin rehabilitation while wearing a cast. Kersee said Foster will train in a swimming pool and ride a conditioning bicycle to keep his legs strong.

Foster appeared to be coming into form when the accident occurred at Cal Poly Pomona near his Chino Hills home. Foster, as usual, was training alone on the Pomona track, although world-class sprinter Evelyn Ashford and her husband, Ray Washington, also were there.

Kersee said Foster was doing what coaches call “short dives,” a drill to develop speed and rhythm over the hurdle. Foster had placed 10 hurdles about 5 yards apart and had been clearing them, taking one step between each hurdle.

Doing the drill is like “riding a bicycle for him, something he does every day,” Kersee said.

But Foster caught his trail foot on one hurdle and fell head first. He tried to brace himself with his left arm, but he told Kersee he was unable to stop the fall.

He suffered a compound fracture of the left forearm. One of the bones broke through the skin, Kersee said.

Foster, whose best time in the event is 13.03 seconds--just off Renaldo Nehemiah’s world record of 12.93--was involved in a crash with Mark McKoy of Canada at the 1987 World Indoor Championships at Indianapolis. Though hurdlers and hurdlers were sent flying, no one was injured.

Foster also escaped injury at the 1987 Pan-American Games when he and Cletus Clark of the United States got their legs tangled. Though Foster did not fall, he also did not finish, which prompted him to say in Rome after winning the world championship: “I’ve been bumped, I’ve been tripped. I’ve had a lot of bad luck indoors and outdoors, whatever year. I figured nothing else could happen to me today unless I fell flat on my face at the start. I almost did that.”

Kersee is concerned about Foster’s ability to start under the constraints of a weakened arm.

“It will be impossible for him not to put pressure on his hand,” he said.

“If we can get him on the team in the next three weeks we’re definitely blessed,” Kersee said. “We are praying for a miracle.”