Seoul ’88 : Foster’s Injury Puts Selecting Process in Focus

In keeping with tradition, the first three finishers in each event at the United States track and field trials will become members of the U.S. Olympic team. That is the fairest approach to selecting an Olympic team. But is it the best approach?

The question was raised again last week, when Greg Foster, two-time world champion in the 110-meter hurdles, broke his arm during a workout, thus jeopardizing his chances of even being able to compete in the trials, which begin Friday in Indianapolis.

If Foster can prove that he is fit before the Olympic track and field competition begins on Sept. 23, it seems obvious that he should represent the United States in Seoul. He has been the nation’s top-ranked hurdler four of the last six years. But because of, literally, a bad break, he and the U.S. team most likely will be deprived of a medal opportunity.

It is too late for Foster, but The Athletics Congress, which governs track and field in the United States, is aware of flaws in its team-selection process and last December asked its various committees to study solutions. Reports are due next December.

One committee, consisting of 12 athletes, has discussed alternatives. Hurdler Tonie Campbell, a member of the committee, said last week he believes most athletes would favor adopting the British system.

For years, British officials simply chose the team, leading in some cases to charges that their decisions were politically influenced. As a result, the British changed the system.

There will be trials in Great Britain this summer. The first two finishers in each event will earn automatic berths on the team, and the officials will choose the third qualifier.

“I’d love to see us go that way,” Campbell said. “Let’s leave the third spot open until the last possible moment so that we are guaranteed of sending the best possible team. The rest of the world has caught up with us in track and field. We no longer can afford to leave potential medal winners at home.”

Another suggestion has been to retain the selection process in most events but to exempt the previous year’s world champions from the trials.

Gold medalists in individual events in Rome last year--Foster in the high hurdles, Edwin Moses in the intermediate hurdles, Carl Lewis in the long jump, Calvin Smith in the 200 and Jackie Joyner-Kersee in the heptathlon and long jump--should automatically qualify for the Olympic team as long as they are fit when the team leaves for Seoul.

As high hurdles veterans, Campbell and Foster are not close friends. They were involved in a conspicuous verbal confrontation after a meet last year. If Foster is not a factor at the trials, Campbell’s chances of finishing among the top three are enhanced.

But Campbell said he wishes there were a loophole that would have allowed Foster to qualify for the Olympic team even if he is unable to compete in the trials.

“He’s my rival, but he’s been more consistent than any other hurdler over the last several years,” Campbell said. “If he can run so many races and show fitness before the Olympics, he deserves to go.”

Bela Karolyi, one of the world’s most prominent gymnastic coaches, said Sunday that he will resign as head of the U.S. delegation in Seoul.

That was predictable after his most recent dispute with Don Peters, coach of the U.S. women’s team, and Mike Jacki, executive director of the U.S. Gymnastics Federation.

Peters, whose gym is in Huntington Beach, told the Boston Globe two weeks ago that Karolyi would not be allowed on the floor during Olympic competition. Karolyi told the Globe that he would be on the floor.

Siding with Peters, Jacki said: “No confusion in my mind. Bela is not a coach (at the Olympics). His role as delegation leader is a political position. It’s designed for someone who has a strong image in the sport, a strong presence. Bela will have no specific coaching responsibilities. So he will not be allowed to be on the floor during the competition.”

Karolyi charged in an NBC interview Saturday that too many people involved with gymnastics in the United States are more concerned about their own interests than they are about the athletes.

He apparently believes it is in the best interests of the athletes for him to be on the floor in Seoul. It is difficult to argue with him considering that five of the first nine finishers in the U.S. championships, including champion Phoebe Mills, train at Karolyi’s gym in Houston.

Jacki said he refused to accept the resignation. “I’m not going to accept it, it’s just something I have to sit down with Bela and work out,” Jacki told Associated Press.

But Mary Lou Retton, a former Karolyi student, scored a 10.0 in analysis when she said Karolyi will not be satisfied unless he is named to replace Peters as coach.

Before the men’s basketball trials in May, four players appeared certain to make the team. Three--David Robinson, Danny Manning and J.R. Reid--are still in contention, having been invited along with 18 other players to a training camp at Georgetown University. The fourth, Rex Chapman, was cut last week.

Chapman is a shooting guard who lost his shot. U.S. Coach John Thompson gave Chapman the benefit of the doubt, allowing him to remain on the extended roster after a poor showing at the trials. But on a recent European tour, Chapman was effective in only two of six games.

Coaches and officials who were at the trials say Chapman appeared distracted, speculating that he was still unsure of his recent decision to leave the University of Kentucky after his sophomore year and enter the National Basketball Assn. His father reportedly encouraged the move. Then, on the European tour, they say Chapman appeared distracted by the NBA draft. He was the first-round choice of an expansion team, Charlotte.

“I had it all in my hands, and I just dropped it,” he told the Associated Press, adding that he has never had a greater disappointment in basketball.

Chapman said he hopes the International Basketball Federation adopts a rule granting all professionals eligibility for the 1992 Summer Olympics.

“I still want to be on an Olympic team,” he said. “Maybe I still can.”

Robinson’s play also was a disappointment on the European tour, which was arranged specifically to help him regain his competitive form after spending the last year in the Navy.

Through the first five games, Robinson averaged 7.2 points and 7.2 rebounds against competition that was barely breathing. After coaches lectured him about his lack of aggressiveness, Robinson had 18 points and 9 rebounds in the final game.

Bill Stein, an assistant coach, told the San Antonio Express-News that Robinson, a 7-1 center, is “not a lock” to make the U.S. team.

“We are definitely concerned about his play,” Stein said.

One member of the U.S. delegation said he believes Robinson’s problem is “too many zeroes” on the contract he signed with the San Antonio Spurs.

Olympic Notes

Soviet basketball Coach Alexander Gomelsky, whose team was one of the three European teams to earn an Olympic berth at a qualification tournament this week in Rotterdam, said he expects 7-foot 3-inch center Arvidas Sabonis to be with the team in Seoul. But he apparently hasn’t spoken with Sabonis, who is rehabilitating his injured Achilles’ tendon in Portland. “Have I said to anybody that I’m playing?” Sabonis said. “Have you heard anywhere that I’m playing? When I say that I’m ready to play, I’ll play in the Olympics, and then you can listen to Gomelsky.” Isn’t glasnost wonderful? Dr. Robert Cook, the Trail Blazers’ physician who is overseeing Sabonis’ rehabilitation, has advised against him playing in the Olympics.

A three-member panel established by the U.S. Rowing Assn. is expected to decide today whether three rowers who walked out of a selection camp have a grievance. The rowers, Joe Bouscaren, Gregg Montesi and Fran Reininger, claim other rowers were guaranteed berths on the men’s quadruple scull team . . . Despite an 11-10 loss Saturday night at Pepperdine, the U.S. water polo team was impressive in its series against defending Olympic champion Yugoslavia. The United States won four of the six matches. The teams will meet again this summer in Yugoslavia and then open the Olympic tournament in a game against each other. U.S. Coach Bill Barnett says the Soviets should be favored in Seoul.

The weightlifting trials are scheduled for Friday and Saturday in Boca Raton, Fla. Roberto Urrutia, the Cuban defector who has gained U.S. citizenship, has set three national clean-and-jerk records this year in the 165-pound class . . . The “Going for the Gold” videotape, NBC’s preview of the Summer Olympics, will be available in stores this week. The price for the 45-minute film is $9.95. . . . University of Texas senior tailback Eric Metcalf, who had more all-purpose yards last season than Notre Dame’s Tim Brown, is considering redshirting if he makes the Olympic team as a long jumper. He recently won the national championship with a jump of 27-8. He is the son of former National Football League player Terry Metcalf.

Ramona Pagel, U.S. record holder in the women’s shotput, can’t understand why she isn’t on The Athletics Congress “Operation Seoul” list to receive $1,200 a month to train, whereas wealthier athletes, such as Carl Lewis, Edwin Moses and Mary Slaney, are in the program. “That would pay my rent and feed me,” she told the Dallas Morning News. “Some of the ones getting it, it just buys them another set of luggage.” . . . The program cost TAC $600,000. So why didn’t more of the athletes in the program support TAC’s national championships last month in Tampa? “Because they are in other places running and making money, being paid to run in somebody else’s meet,” meet director Jimmy Carnes said. “That’s ridiculous.” . . . There was another demonstration last week in South Korea. This one involved 200 handicapped people, who were protesting against the Paralympics, a competition for disabled athletes to be held in Seoul, Oct. 15-24. They said the government should not be spending money to sponsor the competition when it does not provide sufficient facilities for disabled people in the country. . . . Attempting to make her second Olympic women’s basketball team, Cheryl Miller, formerly of USC, said: “I gave my (gold) medal to my dad in ‘84, and my mom has been bugging me ever since. I have to win this one to give her and keep both of them happy.”