Zola Budd, a class act. Mary Slamey, a bitter rhymes with witch

watch the tape, Decker could not swing wide, technically Budd was cramping up lane one, could have been either of them to fall, just happened to be Decker. If it were not the OlyGames, Decker should have gave her a shove with her right elbow and fixed it.

The part about Mary not having full confidence in her speed and fitness - seriously dude, do you know what kind of year she was having leading up to the Olympics? do you?

No one asked Mary to be a saint. Just to run. Her personality is secondary to watching the absolute most talented female American middle distance runner glide effortlessly on the track - Mary was one huge long muscle and it was a pleasure to watch her intensity.

why would the fittest woman in the world let herself get boxed in then? The claim that she didn't know how to race after 10 years of international competitions, falls flat, kind of like Mary herself.

I always love to hear people's excuses for why they didn't win. Oooh...the track was crowded! Look, these aren't time trials!

All of you that supposedly know something about running and are posting that Mary Decker was in the wrong, please get rid of your bias. Mary Decker was not a likeable person and Zola was just a kid, so therefore many people tend to side with Zola on the tripping.

Mary was leading in lane one, Zola passed her, but moved in before she had a full stride lead. Mary tripped because Zola moved in too early. VERY, VERY simple. Get ride of your hatred bias towards Mary and just watch the tape. Zola was at fault. It happens. She didn't do it on purpose, it just happened. I honestly have no clue why this keeps coming up and people continue to think Zola didn't cut Mary off. Watch the tape. Better yet, watch the tape and pretend that the two people were reversed. I am guessing if you had no bias towards either runner, you would be able to see that one of the most basic rules in track wasn't followed by Zola.

running doc wrote:

Most of you have probably read this Runners World article about Zola Budd, but in case you haven't, here is the link. I highly recommend it. She has been through a hell of a lot, not just this single famous Olympic incident, and has managed to come out of it all a great and graceful person. She has my total respect. She is on Facebook, by the way, if you want to say Hi.

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

A big thank you, Doc for posting this!

Decker could have avoided the trip. They clipped once but Decker refused to back off once Budd had the lead. Decker has only herself to blame. She then turned into a drama queen by crying and letting herself be carried off the track.

She fell on a soft infield. Maybe she clipped the side rail. Maybe she strained her achilles. There was no blood and there were no broken bones. The drama never lined up with the circumstances in my opinion. I can understand disappointment, but that performance was way over the top.

I would have liked to see her get up and at least try to run. It was the Olympics. It was still early in the race. She was performing on a world stage and in front of a hometown crowd . . . and she was a favorite. If after a few steps she realized she couldn't go on, I might have a bit more sympathy.

Instead she chose to lash out at a very young, much less experienced, competitor who had formally idolized her . . . a young girl who was already being scorned because of political circumstances that were not of her making. Decker quit and chose to play the victim before she even hit the ground.

Mary Decker fell because of her stubborn pig-headedness. In the face of adversity, Mary Decker chose the cowards way out and did not show any heart, integrity or class that you expect to see in a champion.

Mary Decker became a loser that day for reasons beyond a disputed trip.

I have seen the entire race, but I just realized some people are just commenting on what they see in the brief clip of the race. Zola was behind, passed Mary and didn't have enough clearance before moving in to lane one. Some people have commented that Mary was trying to pass on the inside. That was absolutely not the case, but I do think it could look like that from what is shown. ]

So for those of us who have seen the race from further back than the tripping incident and know track rules and don't have a bias towards Mary because she is not necessarily a nice person, we realize Zola made a mistake. For those that don't understand the rules, have a hatred bias towards Mary and/or didn't see the race from further back, please don't comment.

Jetson, you are the perfect example of what I am talking about. I don't think too many disagree with you about what type of person Mary is. It still doesn't change the fact that she was tripped. Do you understand the rules of track at all? You can't pass someone and then cut in on them when you don't have enough clearance. That is a very basic rule that you are choosing not to understand because of your dislike for Mary. Rip on Mary all you want, but understand that Zola did cause Mary to fall. It was zero percent Mary's fault. She had nowhere to go. If she slows down, she risks getting tripped up from behind. She can't go to the right because the Romanian is there. Her stride is cut off once by Zola cutting in too early and then she is tripped. Watch the race from further back and read a track & field rule book. Then go ahead and post about how bad of a person Mary is.

the iceman killer comes across less psycho the decker

Here is the video from further back for those that haven't seen it. It is very clear that Zola never had established her position in lane one. As Zola drifts in to lane one with out enough clearance, Mary does try to slow down and avoid her. Again, it is pretty obvious what happened.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JziXi_NS3YY

don't have too much sympathy for either. In 1985 they trousered £100K for a rematch (mismatch) in the UK which was a massive amount back then.

Budd was in front of her. Decker was on the rail of lane one. Budd was not on the rail. Puica and the other brit were also not on the rail. After the first clip, Decker could have backed off a bit and would not have been tripped up from behind. If Decker was truely boxed in, she would have taken others down with her. She ran up the back of Budd. She could have avoided contact. Puica and the other brit were smart enough to avoid contact and stayed off of the rail.

I think Budd's position was really incidental to the resultant fall. The "official" ruling was that Budd was not at fault. It is possible for different individuals to read a rule book, observe a race, and come to different conclusions.

The point is mute. Decker's crying and finger-pointing wasn't going to change the fact that she fell. How Decker responded to the situation, even years after it had passed, revealed her character.

Decker's character is the only thing worth commenting on now because who was at fault doesn't matter.

Jetson wrote:

Decker's character is the only thing worth commenting on now because who was at fault doesn't matter.

If you're a Mary basher, that's probably true. If you have no bias and are interested in the facts, it's not. You obviously fall into the first category.

THIS IS CORRECT

Jetson Writes Propaganda wrote:

Jetson wrote:

Decker's character is the only thing worth commenting on now because who was at fault doesn't matter.

If you're a Mary basher, that's probably true. If you have no bias and are interested in the facts, it's not. You obviously fall into the first category.

Me and the officials that ruled on the incident I guess.

I've got no major skin in this game. I do think the fall could have been avoided by Decker regardless as to whether Budd was at fault. Incidental contact happens. Puica avoided it, ran a smart race, and deserved to be the champion that day. I would have liked to see Decker challenge her though.

Jetson wrote:

Me and the officials that ruled on the incident I guess.

.

The official that had the closest view of the trip, threw up the red flag on Zola. Other officials overturned the ruling without the original official present.

Astro wrote:

The official that had the closest view of the trip, threw up the red flag on Zola. Other officials overturned the ruling without the original official present.

It is still the official ruling and the case is closed. You never want the outcome to come down to a ruling of the officials . . . if you can avoid it.

Puica takes the gold.

Astro wrote:

Here is the video from further back for those that haven't seen it. It is very clear that Zola never had established her position in lane one. As Zola drifts in to lane one with out enough clearance, Mary does try to slow down and avoid her. Again, it is pretty obvious what happened.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JziXi_NS3YY

You cannot tell anything about Budd's lane position from that angle. And there's nothing to suggest Decker tried to yield. If anything, it looks like she deliberately refused to give any ground in order to hold Budd away from the rail. She just lost that gamble badly.

I too think Decker was an amazing talent. I saw her win the 3,000 at the Trials that year, and she was indeed in fantastic form (although she got kicked down nicely by Ruth Wysocki in the 1500). But I'm also old enough to remember the 14-year-old princess who threw a relay baton at a Soviet competitor during a tantrum at a US-USSR meet -- because she felt the Soviet cut her off. Seems she never really grew up or learned how to cope rationally with elbow-to-elbow racing.

Canada84 wrote:

Your memory fails you, Old Fossil. At the 84 Olympics Budd could hardly be compared to the annoying 8 year old who lines up on the front line of a road race. At the time she had the WR for the 5000. She had run 8:37 for the 3000 before LA. 8 months after the Olympics she won the World XC Championship. I believe that but for the accident Budd would have won a medal that day.

No, your memory fails you, my bacon loving friend.

All those times you cite were front-running solo efforts in South Africa. She had absolutely no experience running in a pack. In that sense Budd was a neophyte.

To the other runners in the Olympic final she could be considered an annoyance, the way Mohammed Kedir was at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

Fair enough???

Ess Gee Ess wrote:

Canada84 wrote:

Your memory fails you, Old Fossil. At the 84 Olympics Budd could hardly be compared to the annoying 8 year old who lines up on the front line of a road race. At the time she had the WR for the 5000. She had run 8:37 for the 3000 before LA. 8 months after the Olympics she won the World XC Championship. I believe that but for the accident Budd would have won a medal that day.

SOFs point that Budd was not familiar with pack running is true. Decker also never liked running anywhere but in the front. The combo of the two was likely the biggest cause of the problem.

This is true. Mary wasn't particularly comfortable running in a pack, and didn't do it often. Didn't she win from the front (mostly) in Helsinki?