One of the few things American pole vaulters Joe Dial and Billy Olson have in common besides ability is their mutual admiration for Soviet record-holder Serguei Bubka.
”That sucker can jump some bars,” said Dial.
When Bubka soared a world-record 19 feet 8 1/4 inches last summer, reeling in the 20-foot barrier to reality, Olson watched and said: ”I can`t jump that high.”
Their respect for Bubka exceeds their admiration for each other. Countrymen or not, Dial and Olson see eye-to-eye only when they are mouth-to- mouth.
Olson accuses Dial of ducking big meets. Dial accuses Olson of ducking all outdoors. Dial is the American record-holder outdoors at 19-2 1/4. Olson set the latest American and world record indoors at 19-5 1/2 last week.
”The Olympics ain`t indoors,” said Dial.
The fun is indoors this winter, however. The pole vault has raised the roof on arenas around the world.
Bubka, Olson and Dial will try to reach the rafters of the Rosemont Horizon starting at 1 p.m. Sunday in the Bally Invitational meet. By then, Dial predicts the world mark already will have fallen again at the Millrose Games Friday in New York, when the three meet for the first time this season. ”Definitely a world record. I`m ready to jump that high, and I`m sure Bubka is,” said Dial.
All three vaulters have had at least one piece of the world-record action this winter. When Dial went 19-4 3/4 at a University of Missouri meet in Columbia, Olson asked sarcastically: ”Why doesn`t he come out and do these things where we can see him?”
Olson had started the upward spiral in December in Saskatoon, Canada, at 19-2 3/4. Bubka went 19-3 in Osaka, Japan, where Dial was in the field.
”Bubka told me, `Here`s a present for Billy,` ” said Dial.
Olson regained the record at 19-3 1/2 in Los Angeles last month, only to have Dial go 19-4 3/4. Bubka raised it to 19-5 in Moscow last Saturday before Olson cleared 19-5 1/2 Saturday night in New York City.
”We`re always friends when he`s jumping higher than I am,” said Dial.
The feud between Dial and Olson reached its record height last spring when the two engaged in a shoving match on a runway where Olson was competing and Dial was watching.
Olson had suggested that Dial`s 19-2 1/4 in Norman, Okla., was accomplished in friendly conditions that he couldn`t duplicate outside his home state.
Dial, then a senior at Oklahoma State, got the last laugh by winning the NCAA title and beating the 27-year-old Olson in The Athletics Congress meet.
Olson complained on Feb. 1 that Dial had pulled out of a meet in Dallas because of a pulled hamstring, only to show up in Missouri and set his world mark.
”I hadn`t practiced in two weeks,” said Dial. ”Heck, I`m not going to go to a meet where I have to start high. I wanted to go to a meet in Missouri where I could start low. Apparently, I was all right. I wasn`t ducking anyone.”
Dial called it ”totally stupid” for Olson to accuse him of ducking people indoors, because he could have cashed in on appearance fees in Dallas. Instead, he chose to pay his own way to Missouri.
”I`m in the sport to jump high. If the money comes, great,” said Dial.
”The trouble with Americans is they go crazy indoors to make money and they run around like chickens with their heads cut off to jump in every meet. That`s what happens to Billy every year. He gets rich indoors and doesn`t have to jump outdoors.”
In his first season out of college, Dial plans to schedule his jumping the way Bubka schedules his. Bubka is able to take a break between the indoor season and the European outdoor season without having to worry about a spring collegiate or invitational season.
”He has plenty of time to rest up and train,” said Dial. ”I`m going to go to some rinky-dink backyard meets, and if anybody wants to come, they can come.”
A bigger key to Bubka`s success is his unique ability to hold the pole at 16-10, nearly a foot higher than most world-class vaulters. Olson got up to 16-5 this winter, and Dial is up to 16-4.
”If I can hold at 16-7 outdoors, I can make 20 feet,” said Dial.
”Shoot, in Oklahoma, we get some screaming tailwinds. Who cares what Billy says?”
