European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 17, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse Ham on wry begot a big Mouth and i jump High upk2 Champion High jumper stones at olympics where he was booed because of his criticism of canadians. By Mike Spear staff writer Wight stones has changed track and Field High jump from something that formerly raised about As much interest As a wart on grandma s nose to the event to watch whenever he s competing. It might be somewhere on the Back of the shelf like Pil grim s Progress or Fowler s grammar As far As interest goes without stones Shotgun like outspokenness and record breaking jumps. During the last five years the 6-foot-5 /4-Inch califor Nian has racked up 15 of Best 25 jumps Ever recorded and along the Way he has voiced Strong opinions and made what Many consider outrageous predictions about what was just ahead for him in his quest to leap Ever higher Over the bar. Then when he s followed through with his predictions using his own adaptation of the Fosbury Flop a method of jumping whereby he sails Over the bar head first with his Back to ithe s followed it up with comments like did t i say i was going to do it at 24, he is already a Veteran of two olympics neither of which he did Well in but that does t bother him. He will Tell you that he does t think much of the olympics anyway. He made his first world record High jump in the summer of 1973 with a leap of 7 feet 6% inches. Since then he has continued to out jump nearly everyone else in the world except in the olympics. Stones got third in the 1972 Munich olympics at the age of 18 with a jump of 7-3, then four years later at Montreal got the Bronze medal again by Clearing the same height. Jacek Wszola of Poland was first with 7-4 Viz and Greg Joy of Canada was second with a jump of 7-33/4 but few re member them. Stones got All the headlines. He started out by criticizing the French canadians for their bum Job of planning and building the olympic facilities then he blamed the . Olympic committee for stupidity in handling athletes. He left the olympic Village and went Home to California to train and have a Normal sex life then came Back a Day or so before his event and announced that he would win the Gold medal period. When he failed to do it he said heavy Rains during his event made footing too Slippery. Many who saw it on Tele vision will remember him Squeegee ing the area in front of the bar before each jump. I had to. The canadians would t do it for me but they certainly worked them selves to death Squeegee ing off before their Man Joy jumped which i thought was stones has a Good solid chunk of Ham in him and those who know it weren t surprised after his Sharp criticism of French canadians when he appeared on the Field wearing a to shirt with the word on it i love French but olympic performances aside he has jumped higher than anyone in world in nearly every Competition he s entered and has held no. 1 ranking in the High jump for the last four years. If he is outspoken he does t Lack courage As a jumper. When Dwight gets behind hell pass on a height and go to the next higher one to catch up says Bruce Jenner. That takes stones spends most of his Summers on the european track and Field circuit which is where the action is. Con sequently for a Man who Calls Malibu calif., Home he is very Pale looking. He relishes facing Rolf Beilschmidt of East Germany and Wszola. During the recent world cup Competition in Dusseldorf he vowed to beat both Beilschmidt and Wszola. With an Eye on the importance the Media was putting on the event which he thought was Way out of proportion to its Worth he figured a Victory would go a Long Way towards assuring him of top ranking for the. Fifth year in a Row. When he appeared on the Field to warm up it was pure stones again. His newest to shirt read stones and Mickey mouse no. 1." then when Competition started he changed to the Stan Dard ".a." shirt but finished second to Beilschmidt. At a news conference later he said he was having problems with things he s added to his technique but nevertheless was getting better and fully expected to Recap Ture the world record before the end of the Hen Beilschmidt said at the same press conference that he expected to jump 7-7 very soon stones Shook his head and rolled his eyes with feigned disbelief. He was enjoying it. It is com petition with Beilschmidt and Wszola that stimulates him to go for new Heights. The record is now held by 18-year-old Vladimir Yash Chenko of Russia who jumped 7-7% this summer at the .-.s.r. Junior track meet in Richmond va., break ing stones latest world record jump of 7-7v2. But stones is confident he will get the record Back. His Candor outspokenness and apparent overconfidence either rankles or appeals to those who come in Contact with him. One athlete said Dwight makes a lot of people mad but if you listen to what he says it makes sense. He s Usu ally stones reputation for speaking out covers All topics. He will talk rolling his Tongue Back and Forth across his Mouth in a Bass sightly nasal voice of his own personal life As readily As he will about his athletic career or anyone else. Some of stones views Given while Downing a breakfast that included a heaping handful of assorted Vitamin pills washed Down with a mixture of Orange juice and protein powder then from the Vantage Point of a hotel Barber s chair q. When do you expect to meet Yashchenko a. I never will. I la never have a Chance to meet him. He s 18 years old and i very rarely meet russians who Are even 20 or 22 years old. They la keep him under wraps. Hell be a Junior for another year. The first Opportunity i would expect to see him would be at the olympic games in Moscow in 1980. Q. Who then do you consider to be your biggest Chal Lenger a. Beilschmidt. He s hot As a pistol and he s Only lost to me All year. As far As i m concerned Yashchenko does t exist. Jumping against a height and jumping against a Man Are completely different. And they re keeping him away from jumping against people. They Don t want him jumping against anyone Good because he s being psycho logically programmed to jump against the bar Only. There is absolutely no pressure on him at All. Q. What s going to happen when he faces pressure a. They la teach him How to handle it but he s not ready now. He sleeps 18 hours a Day with things in his head Tell ing him what to do it s ridiculous obviously they have to drug him to get him to sleep that Long face it. I d much rather do what i m doing and jump one centimetre lower. Q. Would you like the Chance to jump against Yash Chenko a. Anywhere anytime i d be psyched absolutely to tally psyched. He knows he can t jump against me or Beilschmidt or any of these people. He s already said it himself. He s not ready. Q. Will you compete in the Moscow olympics a. Not necessarily no. It s very far ahead. And i Don t have much respect for the olympic Deal right now. It s been abused so greatly and All it is now is a big com Mercial. It s like what happens to Christmas. 1 think the spirit has gone out of Christmas pretty much. It s the same for the olympic games. It s All Money it s All poli tics and it s All bulls it s two weeks us a whole year of being tied Down to one Competition which is not really that decisive. I Don t put a lot of emphasis on that meet. Q. With Yashchenko renewed debate has Arisen Over the merits of the Flop and straddle style of High jumping. Red bloc people say the straddle is More difficult but has better height potential and that the hop is easier. A. If the Flop is so easy Why in t everyone jumping with it it s More natural for a person built the Way i am and i prefer it greatly because i m a Speed jumper and not a Power jumper. The russians and the East germans have studied my technique to the Point where they re now using my Type of run with the straddle jump which is very efficient. Q. up the Spector of the red bloc All out professional approach to sports. Does it bother you a. No because that s the Way their system is put to Gether. We Don t have the balls As free countries to Tell them not to do it that Way that they Are professionals. I mean when is the United states going to Tell Russia what to do never because we Haven t got the balls. We Haven t got the balls to Tell East Germany what to do either. So we Bend the rules in amateurism in order to allow the russians and Eastern bloc countries to exist because we have absolutely no courage whatsoever when it comes to that. We have a lot of Guys who Are work ing 9-to-5 jobs and having to train at night etc., and they Are trying to compete against people who train eight hours a Day. Q. Would it do any Good if the . Did say anything about it a. The russians would Tell us to stuff it of course. But you have to assert yourself or nothing gets done. Q. How Many years have you been jumping a. Fourteen. I got started in elementary school. I saw Valen Brumel of Russia olympic Champion in 1964 on to ind decided to do it. I was maxed on team sports at nine years old. I d had it with team sports. I d played baseball basketball kickball softball and i was just sick and tired of it. I switched to individualized sports because i was a bad sport. I wanted to do the whole thing. I thought i was the Best athlete in the school which i prob ably was. I could t stand being put on these teams with these nerds and having them screw it up for me because i have a tremendous competitive instinct and will to win. I got sick and tired of having to depend on other people to win. Q. When you Don t win in the High jump does it get you Down a. No because it s Only me and i know what i be done wrong. I Don t have to worry about a Guy blocking for me or that Guy giving me the Ball or throwing it to me when i m wide open. There s none of that with the High jump it sail you. Q. What is the life Span of a High Juniper a. I could jump until i m 30 at a very High level but i la be damned if i m going to. Two or three years for me is going to be it. A High jumper normally is forced out of the sport by Job or social pressure injuries Lack of desire or administration driving him nuts like it is me. Q. Why do you and Many track and Field athletes com Pete each summer in Europe a. The Competition in the . Ends with the National championships in june. That s when the european season begins. And my Competition is Over Here Beilschmidt Wszola plus i train to jump Over Here. They have Good facilities and Good crowds. The people under stand the sport whereas in the states they Don t give a Damn. Q. Why in t it appreciated in the states a. Because we have too Many professional sports. Plus another disadvantage for track and Field is you Don t have Contact and the United states audience is Contact oriented. That s Why indoor track is not bad. Because once in a while you see a Guy knocked on his ass in the in Field. People love to see that. Why do you think Auto racing is so big people want to see crashes. In pop Warner football kids Are taught to kill by some overzealous father who was playing second string Junior varsity in High school. They re telling these kids you be got to go out and kill them stick it to them and the coach is getting an ego trip out of it. Q. An attempt to professionalize track and Field has a by de Reavis warming up in Dusseldorf in Mickey mouse to shirt. Failed once. Will it Ever come about a. The Only Way it can Ever become professional is to have like six regional teams. It has to be teams and have two competitors in each event and pay them a salary. If we had a team situation and i signed it would t be for less than $100,000. No Way. I know How much i be put into it and How much publicity potential i have. Q. What gives you that publicity potential a. I be got a big Mouth and i jump High. I have a hell of a lot of credibility. No matter whether a person can stand me or not they have to admit one thing. I do what i say pm going to do. Q. Is it natural that you speak out or did someone influence you to do it a. No. My Mother has taught me to speak out All my life. We re a family of outspoken people. Q. Who has been the most influential person in your High jumping career a. My Mother and my High school coach John Barnes. He and i worked out my technique and my Mother just insisted that i be the Best at whatever i attempted to do. Q. You father did t have any influence a. He was out of the House by the time i was four or five so he did t have a lot of influence on me. .1 saw him every other weekend after that and it pissed me off. I could t play Little league baseball or anything. I did t Tell him at the time How i Felt about it. I had no balls when i was Young. None whatsoever. Q. Is your jumping technique unique a. Nobody can execute the jump the Way i do it. My High school coach and i worked on it when Dick Fos Bury olympic Champion in 1968 came out with it. I seemed to have adapted to it and More efficiently executed his technique on the ground. I m going faster to the bar than any other jumper in the Field. Basically it s Speed plus Power equals height. Q. You appear to be going through the jump in your mind before you actually do it in Competition. A. Yes i m programming the computer by showing it what it s going to do. I think mechanics. I think How much Energy is it going to take to get Over the height and How much punch i want to do at the Plant the use of the arms and the Way to accelerate on the run. Q. How does a Juniper train a. I Don t jump in training. Very rarely do i jump. I May work on technique a Little. The rest of the time i lift weights and run. When you jump sometimes As Many As 55 competitions in one year doing it in practice kind of takes the jump out of you. A what Are your Long Range goals a. Nothing other than the fact that i want to be a millionaire by the time i m 30. I Don t care what it s in i know i will be. There s no doubt in my mind. Q. Are you anywhere close to it now a. No. But i have the investment potential. I be got attorneys and accountants and people like that showing me where to in Vest. Q. Aren t you also interested in sports broadcasting a. Yeah. I be already done four broadcasts for lbs. Page 14 the stars and stripes monday october 17, 1977 the stars and stripes Page 15
