Final Olympic Tuneup Is Today at UCLA

There’s no pressure and also no payday, but Olympic track and field athletes from 16 nations will gather at UCLA’s Drake Stadium today to compete in one of the final tuneup meets before the Seoul Olympics.

The meet, called Gold Rush ‘88, will give athletes a chance to see where they are in their preparation for the Games, which begin Sept. 17. The meet will also serve as the last opportunity for some U.S. Olympians to show team officials their fitness. Monday is the deadline for submitting the final team roster.

Some runners are taking the meet more seriously than others. Kim Gallagher, who made the U.S. team at 800 and 1,500 meters, said she will try to break Mary Slaney’s American record of 3 minutes 57.12 seconds in the 1,500 meters. Gallagher, of El Segundo, has asked for a rabbit in the race to set a 2:07 pace at 800 meters.

Don Quarrie, who won the gold medal in the 200 and the silver medal in the 100 for Jamaica at the Montreal Games in 1976, will compete in both the 100 and 200 today. Quarrie was not selected for the 1988 Jamaican Olympic Team. It would have been his sixth Olympics.

Olympians Steve Scott, Doug Padilla and Jeff Atkinson are entered in the 1,500.

In the women’s events, Merlene Ottey of Jamaica, who won bronze medals in the 100 and 200 at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, will run the 100 today. Gail Devers Roberts of UCLA, who has made the U.S. team in the 100-meter hurdles, will also run the 100.

The U.S. 400-meter relay team--Evelyn Ashford, Jennifer Inniss, Alice Brown and Florence Griffith-Joyner--is scheduled to run together in competition for the first time.

Field events begin at 2 p.m., running events at 3.