Foster’s Arm Put in Brace : Quick Comeback Not Very Likely, Doctor Tells Hurdler

Greg Foster, the world’s No. 1-ranked hurdler, said Tuesday his surgeon has told him he has little chance of competing at the upcoming U.S. Olympic track and field trials after suffering a severely broken forearm.

Foster’s left arm was placed in a large brace, instead of a cast, that he will wear for about two weeks.

He injured his left arm tripping over a hurdle during a routine warmup drill Monday morning at Cal Poly Pomona near his Chino Hills home.

Speaking from his bed at San Dimas Community Hospital a day after Dr. John Colias placed two pins in his left arm to hold the broken bones together, Foster still remained optimistic that he can recover in time for the trials, which start July 15.

Foster, 29, perhaps facing his last chance at Olympic competition, said he will forge ahead.

“My feeling is I just have to give it a try,” he told Associated Press. “I’m just trying to stay up as much as possible. But I have to realize it is going to be tough.”

Foster, who won a silver medal at the 1984 Olympics, must finish in the top three at the trials to make the team that will compete in the Seoul Games starting in late September. Heats for Foster’s event, the 110-meter hurdles, will not start until July 22.

Foster, a former UCLA All-American, is a two-time world champion. He is training for the one title he has yet to win--an Olympic gold medal.

Foster lost the 1984 Olympic gold to rival Roger Kingdom, who had recently defeated Foster twice in head-to-head competitions.

Kingdom, who learned of Foster’s accident Tuesday, said he was upset when he heard the news.

“Believe it or not, I want Greg to come back and compete,” he said from his home in Pittsburgh. “Greg was going to Seoul, there’s no question about it.”

Foster was doing a drill in which he placed 10 hurdles close together, clearing them while taking just one step in between each.

He fell when his trail leg got caught in a hurdle. He tried to brace himself from the fall with his left arm, but was unable to support the weight. The forearm broke in two places, and one of the bones barely pierced the skin.

Kingdom said all elite competitors perform the drill, called short dives, but Foster’s injury has brought it into focus.

“I worry about it,” Kingdom said of using the drill just before the trials. “I crash quite a bit. It puts fear in my mind and in the mind of the other guys. I don’t care how long you have been in the sport, misfortune can happen.”

Foster, who has a history of spills during races, is no more susceptible to falling than other hurdlers, Kingdom said.

“Greg has been running a long time,” he said. “He knows how to get over the hurdles.”

Foster said he was feeling good before the accident and felt his chances of making the Olympic team were excellent.

Now, he will take his training day by day. Bob Kersee, once his coach and now his adviser, said Foster will try to maintain his leg strength by swimming and riding an exercise bicycle.