Injuries May Push Pole Vaulter Olson to Retire

Billy Olson, in the midst of another debilitating injury, is contemplating giving up his colorful pole vaulting career.

“I’m like a bucket of bolts,” Olson said by telephone from his Texas home. “And the pieces aren’t fitting together any more. They’re scattered all over me.”

Olson’s latest injury is a full-blown fracture of the left tibia--his takeoff leg. “You can see halfway through the bone,” he said.

This injury, which occurred in December, 1988, follows this series of mishaps:

- A severely pulled left hamstring, sustained in 1980. “It bothered me for about five years,” Olson said.

- A dislocated left wrist and elbow and a break of all the bones in the wrist, suffered when he fell on a gym floor while working out in September, 1980.

- A tear of all ligaments in the left ankle, when he fell incorrectly into the vaulting pit in 1984. “When I was trying to come back from that, I suffered three stress fractures in the ankle,” he said.

- Compressed discs in his back, suffered at the national outdoor championships in San Jose in 1987. “Two of the discs are still broken,” Olson said.

In addition, Olson has undergone two major sinus operations, the second keeping him hospitalized for several days.

The leg fracture, which has plagued Olson for about 14 months, has him most dispirited. It has caused him to forgo the indoor season and think about retirement.

“I’m tired,” the 31-year-old Olson said. “It’s very discouraging. I’ve wasted a lot of time and lost a lot of money.”

Olson, who has broken the world indoor record 11 times and still holds the American record, said he has decided against surgery and putting a rod in the leg.

“If I can’t get well on my own, I might hang it up,” Olson said. “Surgery doesn’t seem worth it.”

Olson said his hesitancy to return to competition has been the “shabby treatment” he has received from some meet directors or promoters upon informing them that he would have to skip the indoor season because of the injury.

“I haven’t made a decision yet. I’m a bitter dog now. A lot of people have said my time has come and gone. But I’m not washed up yet. Right now, I’m somewhere between the twilight to the no-light of my career.”