For the week of January 23 - 29, 2002

Fosbury asked to replace Feltman as torch bearer

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By GREG MOORE
Express Staff Writer

Ketchum resident Dick Fosbury, an Olympic gold medalist in high jumping, will replace former Sun Valley resident Bud Feltman in the Olympic torch relay in Twin Falls on Saturday.

Local residents Rod Tatsuno (left) and Dick Fosbury are making their final preparations for taking part in the Olympic torch relay in Twin Falls this weekend. Tatsuno’s canine companion, Lobo, keeps watch over the pair. Express photo by Willy Cook

Feltman, a former Olympic luge racer, withdrew from participation on Friday, said a spokesperson for the Olympic Torch Relay Committee. His withdrawal followed last week’s extensive press coverage of the fact that he had faked a disappearance in Blaine County in 1995 while under pressure by investors to explain the poor performance of a local company he was running. When he was found a week later in Louisiana, after an extensive search in the Big Wood River, he was found in possession of a car he had earlier reported stolen and for which he had collected insurance money.

According to the Olympic Torch Relay Committee spokesperson, Feltman said he decided not to participate in order to avoid any negative impact on the games.

Both Feltman and Fosbury were chosen to be torch bearers as former Olympians in a pool separate from nominees from the general public.

Rod Tatsuno, also of Ketchum, will join Fosbury as a torch bearer. Chevrolet Motor Division selected Tatsuno, a Sun Valley ski instructor, to represent the Wood River Valley in the Olympic Torch relay during the Twin Falls Celebration on Saturday.

Fosbury, 54, won his gold medal in Mexico City in 1968, and became famous as the originator of the "Fosbury Flop," a technique of jumping with one’s back to the bar.

After moving to the Wood River Valley, he helped found Galena Engineering in 1978. The company does civil engineering and surveying, and Fosbury functions as Ketchum’s city engineer.

He said he had been notified of his selection as a torch bearer about two weeks ago, but expected to be running in Billings, Mont., or Denver. He was notified Friday that space had become available in Twin Falls. He said he is pleased to be participating closer to home.

"I’m stoked," he said. "This is a big honor for me. It’s my good fortune to represent the Blaine County Olympians, and there are many of us."

Fosbury said he does not yet know exactly where he will be running, but was told it will be a two-block-long stretch.

"At first I was contemplating doing the Ali shuffle to make this thing last as long as possible. I may resort to my tradition of going over backwards."

When he was competing in Mexico City, Fosbury said his principal thoughts were of the people in his hometowns of Portland and Medford, Ore.

"This time, I expect I’ll have the same kind of thoughts, representing the Ketchum-Sun Valley area."

Though he no longer does any high jumping, Fosbury retains a connection to the Olympics, serving as secretary general to the World Association of Olympic Winners. He said the organization, founded in 1998, seeks to promote athletics as part of everyone’s effort to reach full potential in mind, body and spirit. He said he has been traveling extensively to prompt former Olympians to become activists.

Fosbury said that though he has no tickets for events, he will travel to Salt Lake City during the games to visit the Olympians’ Reunion Center, where he hopes to network with other former athletes.

Locally, Fosbury has helped "on a casual basis" to coach high jumping at Wood River High School and Carey School. He also helps with the Hershey Program in Carey, a national track and field program at local, regional and state levels.

All his traveling and desk work, however, hasn’t kept him from preparing for his two-block-long run.

"I’m in training," he said. "I should be able to handle it."

 

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