Indoor Track Meet at Forum : Short-Time Record-Holder Gataullin Headlines Vaulting Field

Beware the Mad Doctor.

This is the battle cry of the pole vaulters of the world, at least since the emergence of Rodion Gataullin of the Soviet Union. Gataullin, a 23-year-old medical student who briefly held the world indoor record earlier this month, will practice his brand of medicine tonight at the Times/Eagle Indoor Games at the Forum. Track events start at 6:30.

Gataullin emerged for a moment from the shadow of countryman-superstar Sergei Bubka on Feb. 4, when he broke Bubka’s indoor record with a vault of 19 feet 9 inches at Gomel, USSR. Bubka, as tenacious a competitor as the sport has ever bred, got his record back a week later in Japan. The Olympic champion jumped 19-9 1/4, making both an athletic and psychological statement to his countryman and the world.

Bubka’s swift response to Gataullin’s challenge left the younger vaulter reeling.

“I didn’t even have a chance to get used to the fact that I had set the record,” he said at a press luncheon Tuesday. Gataullin seemed at ease in the setting, decked out in black leather jacket and pants. Like most Soviet athletes, Gataullin claims not to understand English, but Tuesday, he answered questions--in Russian--before they had been translated from English.

“He’s really a bright guy,” American record-holder Billy Olson said. “I like him.”

Olson and fellow U.S. Olympians Bell and Kory Tarpenning will join Earl Bell and Mike Tully in the vault field for tonight’s meet. The event is scheduled to begin at 7:40.

The emergence of Gataullin has been a steady, well designed rise. He was the world junior champion and, coming from a nation that is producing the world’s best vaulters--Soviets swept the medals in Seoul--he has great incentive to perform well. Gataullin did that by winning the silver medal in 1988, two inches behind Bubka.

It was Bell who hung the Mad Doctor nickname on Gataullin, and well before his current success.

Said Olson: “We all got a look at him three years ago, when the Soviets came over here for some indoor meets. I knew then that he was going to be a tremendous athlete. Then, he was still a young guy trying to find his technique. Now, he has it.”

Olson said that Gataullin’s technique is superior to Bubka’s, that Gataullin is just as fast and, since he’s bigger at 6-foot-3 and 180, he has greater potential.

“This guy is the future,” Olson said.

Gataullin, however, still has Bubka to deal with in the present. They have not met this indoor season. Bubka has competed in Europe and Asia while Gataullin has been making the rounds on the U.S. circuit.

Asked if he and Bubka are friends, Gataullin said: “I can’t say we are friends. We are colleagues.”

It was a delicate and most diplomatic handling of what appears to be a raging rivalry.

“Let me tell you, there’s a rivalry,” Olson said. “It’s one with a lot of pride. Sergei has been winning because he has more pride, but Gataullin is getting there.”

Bubka, who has been called the world’s greatest athlete, has an aura about him. He is also the first Soviet athlete in recent times to defy his federation’s officials and embark on a path that Olson calls “capitalist Communism.” Translation: Bubka, like his Western counterparts, is getting rich from amateur athletics.

Gataullin is clearly in this for the long haul, saying his goal is to win the 1992 Olympics. And if he proves a more obedient and compliant athlete than Bubka, that may put him in favor with Soviet sports officials. One way to ensure that is to continue jumping high.

Which is just what the Doctor has ordered.

It’s happened twice to Marcus O’Sullivan. He has been running a mile indoors and on the way to the finish he has set a world record at 1,500 meters, a slightly shorter distance.

The Irishman was timed in 3 minutes 35.6 seconds a week ago at the Meadowlands Invitational, on his way to winning the mile in 3:51.66. His time bettered the world best of 3:36.03, set by Jose-Luis Gonzalez of Spain.

The announcement of O’Sullivan’s record was delayed somewhat because of track’s maze of rules. Last year, O’Sullivan ran to an apparent world record in the 1,500 meters at the Meadowlands, but the time wasn’t accepted as a record because there were an insufficient number of official timers. Rules require that at least three official watches be used for record purposes.

In 1981, it happened to both Eamonn Coghlan and Steve Scott. Both ran below world-record time in a 1,500 race at an indoor meet in San Diego. But neither time was recognized because of a shortage of timers.

O’Sullivan, 27, won the mile in this meet last year and since then has lost few races indoors.

He and Said Aouita have been playing a cat-and-mouse game this indoor season. Promoters would have loved to have matched O’Sullivan against Aouita, the holder of the world outdoor record at 1,500 meters. But although they have run in the same meets, they have yet to meet in the same event.

The game continued here. After a workout at USC Wednesday, Aouita chose to run the mile tonight, instead of the 3,000, which he had tentatively entered.

Told of Aouita’s decision, O’Sullivan, also entered in the mile, told meet organizers that he would have to think about what he wanted to do.

Thursday afternoon, he said he had chosen to run the 3,000, so there will be no Aouita-O’Sullivan race here.

Among those who are scheduled to run the mile--so far--are Scott, Jose Abascal of Spain and Frank O’Mara and Ray Flynn of Ireland.

Missing in the middle distances will be Mary Decker Slaney, who was scheduled to run 1,000 meters. Slaney told meet organizers that she and her coach believed running on the boards was “risky,” given the soreness of her legs.

Slaney pulled out of a meet last weekend, complaining of an injury to her Achilles’ tendon and sore legs.

It was the second significant loss for the meet this week among the women. Tatyana Samolenko of the Soviet Union, a gold medalist at Seoul in the 3,000 and bronze medalist in the 1,500 meters, was to have run the 3,000 here. She did not make the trip because of illness.

The fireworks among the women will likely be found in the 60-meter hurdles. Jackie Joyner-Kersee has been burning up the boards in the short hurdles race, an event which her husband-coach had to coax her into this season.

Despite some early reluctance--she thinks she’s too big for the race--Joyner-Kersee has had great success. She tied the world indoor record for the 55-meter hurdles at the Millrose Games last month. In that meet, Joyner-Kersee equaled the world record in a semifinal heat, running 7.37 seconds and tying East German Cornelia Oschkenant. Forty-five minutes later Joyner-Kersee ran the same time in winning the final.

The 400 meters will pit Olga Bryzgina of the Soviet Union, gold medalist at 400 in Seoul, against Valerie Brisco, gold medalist at the distance in Los Angeles. Bryzgina’s 48.65 in Seoul was the world’s best last season.

In the high jump, Olympic gold medalist Louise Ritter will seek to erase the bitter memory of her jumping of a week ago. Ritter, the American record-holder at 6-8, battled jet-lag and mental exhaustion in Japan and jumped 6-0 3/4. Ritter, who uses a long approach, said she is still adjusting to the cramped conditions indoors.

Track Notes

The men’s 60-meter hurdles has Tonie Campbell and Andre Phillips. . . . Olympic silver medalist Mike Powell and bronze medalist Larry Myricks are in the long jump. . . . The weight throw and the shotput are scheduled to be held at USC today at 1:30. Entered in the shot is world indoor record-holder Randy Barnes. . . . Rudolf Povarnitsin of the Soviet Union, Olympic bronze medalist in the high jump, heads the field in that event. U.S. Olympians Jimmy Howard, Brian Stanton and