Slaney still regrets her 1984 race

Think she regrets the fact that she was doped to the gills when she ran it?

The hardest thing I had with it was that when she was tripped she did not appear to even try to get up and finish the race. Yeah she was out of contention then, yeah she was hurt, but you get up. My track coach (not to mention my Dad and brothers) would have chewed out my ass if I got tripped in a race and then sat on the infield and cried.

It has always appeared to me that she took a dive.

z runner wrote:

The hardest thing I had with it was that when she was tripped she did not appear to even try to get up and finish the race. Yeah she was out of contention then, yeah she was hurt, but you get up. My track coach (not to mention my Dad and brothers) would have chewed out my ass if I got tripped in a race and then sat on the infield and cried.

She was unable to get up. She was barely able to SIT up. They had to carry her from the field. She had torn a muscle in her hip area.

yeah it was called her Drugius-maximus come on people!

I never thought she was doping then. She got desperate in her later years trying to hang on like Dieter Baumann and Eddy Hellybuck.

If she was on anything illegal in 1984 you could be sure it wasn't anything the Soviets and Puica who won the race weren't on.

Likely all the top athletes from the '80's were doping since the testing wasn't as widespread as today. So don't forgot about Coe, Aouita, Cova, Lopes, Scott, Cram, etc.

I sometimes wonder if that isn't the case, too. Like SFH in Sydney, with all of that pressure...

middleman wrote:

It has always appeared to me that she took a dive.

video i saw of it had a much different view... looks to me like the little bitch from GB hit her not once, not twice, but 3 times on that stretch trying to cut MD off... c u next tuesday

z runner wrote:

The hardest thing I had with it was that when she was tripped she did not appear to even try to get up and finish the race. Yeah she was out of contention then, yeah she was hurt, but you get up. My track coach (not to mention my Dad and brothers) would have chewed out my ass if I got tripped in a race and then sat on the infield and cried.

Assuming she could have gotten up, who would she have gotten up for?...YOU???...the 'fans'???...herself? This kind of comment pisses me off because it is misguided. Who the hell are you to project what is meaningful to you onto someone else?!!! She had one sole objective: WIN! And if winning couldn't happen due to being inferior for that day, then the objective would be to compete. She could do neither because circumstances robbed her of the opportunity. What, so now she is supposed to placate your sense of what is important and valuable in order to get the big 'boobie' prize (a heartfelt "atta girl!!!")????

No! This kind of comment comes from one who is not a contender. You don't understand the mentality that is more 'all or nothing' than 'finish at all costs'. So, step down from your judgemental soapbox and get off your highhorse! Being a competitive contender is significantly more valuable than giving it the 'ol college try'!

Decker made a major mistake by not leading and running her own race.

It was a dumb choice by the coach who told her to hold back and not lead, which lead to the accident and collision.

Budd did cut in, but she wouldn't have been able to do that if Decker hadn't of been dragging along and trying to allow someone to pass her.

J.R. wrote:

Decker made a major mistake by not leading and running her own race.

It was a dumb choice by the coach who told her to hold back and not lead, which lead to the accident and collision.

Budd did cut in, but she wouldn't have been able to do that if Decker hadn't of been dragging along and trying to allow someone to pass her.

AGREED. Mary is still my favorite runner! I wish she had just did what she has always done...lead.

The collision was Slaney's fault, and the regrets she expresses are mainly about her race tactics, the fact that she didn't lead. She doesn't express regret about the scorn she heaped on Budd. At 50, she hasn't grown up much.

If she had just run the race, Slaney would have been a silver medalist. She wouldn't have beaten Puica, but silver is better than nothing.