Zola Budd

I’m not sure if this name rings a bell for any of you, but Zola was the woman who ‘tripped’ Mary Decker in the 5000 meters at the 1984 Olympics.  I actually vividly remember the incident since my dad was a big runner at the time and we were watching the race.  Decker was one of track’s America’s sweethearts at the time, thus her going down brought out some ten-year-old rage in me.  “WHORE!!!!”  Or more likely, “YOU SUCK!!!” 

Anyways, in this months’ Runner’s World there is a really good article on Zola Budd, her childhood, and what ACTUALLY happened during that race.  Apparently Zola wasn’t at all the one to blame, and further Decker handled the whole thing pretty poorly.  Seperate from and including that, her life story is really a pretty fascinating one filled with more pain and misfortune than triumph.   Worth reading.

Here is the youtube video of the race. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QF9vOnkzvk

And hell…here’s the article.  Fucking internet man…

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-243-297–13308-0,00.html

BN