Tell me all about the Mary Decker/Zola Budd Olympic tripping incident?

I'm American but I was on Team Zola Budd all the way. I could not stand Mary Decker Tabb Delaney or whatever her name ended up being.

Decker was a bitter bitch.

It could not have been any worse than the Canadian hurdler taking out the Russian hurdler in the 2004 Olympics, lol.

This happens in Short Track ice skating all of the time. I wonder how pissed off the athletes get tripped must feel. Regardless, forgive me for thinking this is the most hilarious gold medal winner ever. Jump to 0:56 for the good stuff.

I saw the Budd/Decker incident live. I was confused as to why she was holding her side when she hobbled away from the track in pain. She was behaving as if she’d been stabbed.

Photo of incident.

Is Decker trying to take Zola Budd down with her here?

The medic is like "OK drama queen..."

Decker said later that she wasn't tripped, she was inexperienced running in a pack. Anyone is allowed to run barefoot at the Olympics but it's rare. This was the top story in the news when it happened.

I wish someone had tripped Mary Lou Retton. Or taken out her knee!

I always hated her so much!

How did Zola Budd even compete? Weren't South African athletes banned from the Olympics then?

Mary Decker was a championship runner long before the Olympics. She had to have run in a pack before this - certainly, she knew about throwing elbows to gain position. So, she's full of shit.

Zola ran under another country's flag - either one of her parents was from that country, or some legal manoevering was used to get her in.

She ran for Britain in '84 r12

lol at OP randomly bringing this up!

I can't imagine running barefoot on a track.

It seems that they got over it. I thought Decker was bitter about it for years though.

Like R10 wrote, Decker ultimately admitted it was her fault for being inexperienced in runnIng in a pack. I remember her usually pulling ahead of the field early, so I was confused why she was in a tight pack at the Olympics. She was a total snatch about it afterward but obviously matured and realized it wasnt Zola Budd’s fault, and it certainly was not intentional.

Mary Decker’s husband is hot, beefy British discus thrower Richard Slaney. Good for Mary for climbing that hot piece for over three decades!

She ripped Zola Budd's number off from behind her.

R11 = Ecaterina Szabo

It took Mary Decker Slaney years and years to stop whining publicly about Budd's accident. Her name became synonymous with being a professional victim & sore loser.

OMG, running in a pack. That would be so stressful. I can imagine that it would take a lot of practice to get good at it.

Lol, R20.

Mary Lou was obnoxious though.

This was a obviously big deal at the time in the UK and shown for years later in these Classic Olympic Moments type shows. I was 8 at the time, but as now an eldergay Brit, my memory is that the feeling at the time was more sympathy for Decker than support for Zola. Any other Brits at the time can correct me if I am wrong, but just because she got UK citizenship, I don't think anyone was hugely supportive of her. The incident was not her fault though and Decker probably made more money out of the infamy of it all, than her actual track earnings.

If I were running barefoot, I would be scared of other runners’ shoes stepping all over my feet.

Zola's British citizenship was controversial. She was ineligible to compete and then got fast tracked for British citizenship. The British government was hoping for a gold medal I guess. The anti apartied movement was getting pretty big at that time in the USA and I think the UK as well. A lot of people thought Zola didn't belong there and then she may have cost someone else a medal.

I was there at the stadium. It was surreal to watch it live. Part of what made it weird was that, in these track and field meets, a whole lot is going on at once. While runners are racing around the track, others are throwing a javelin in the middle of the track, high jumps are happening, etc. So while this teary drama was unfolding in one little section of the track, other competitions of the day were carrying on as normal throughout the field. If I remember correctly, her discuss thrower husband was also competing that day and ran to her side.

If you watch the footage shot from behind the runners, Decker made contact with Budd first. Decker's right foot kicks the back of Budd's left ankle or leg. After Decker kicks her, Budd's left leg splayed out and caused Decker to lose control and go down. I think the footage from the side and front is what got all the media attention because Budd appeared to have kicked back at Decker, but if you look at the footage from behind that's clearly not what happened.

The real problem was Budd appeared to be cutting in trying to get right in front of Decker too quickly. Budd was doing well alongside Decker, basically keeping pace with her. Then Budd's teammate came up on Budd's right side, almost passing her, and it looked like Budd panicked a bit and pulled ahead. And then she starts to crowd Decker out on the left side. Budd being inexperienced and shorter than her teammate and Decker may have just miscalculated how much room she needed to get ahead of Decker to safely cut in. But Decker also made the mistake of not controlling her own stride. Budd started pulling ahead about 30 seconds before the fall--Decker should have expected her to be cutting over if she didn't pick up her own pace.

If you watch this footage of the whole event starting at 6:30, you get a sense of the pacing and see what happens leading up to the fall at 7:20. Budd was unfairly maligned.

Budd competing for the UK though was bullshit.

^Sorry, I meant to say Decker made contact with Budd first at the point in the race where she fell. Decker and Budd had bumped each other a couple times before that, but not

Zola Bud was just an apolitical kid who wanted to run. Mary Decker Slaney was a cunt before, during and especially after the race and the biggest crybaby in the world. As an American I was shamed of her.

Life and pop culture in the 80s is practically in another dimension. This was huge news at the time. If it happened in The Age of the Internet, it would merit a few tweets at most.

Mary Decker's husband has a massive bulge. Surprising that the bitch could walk at all

Neither Budd nor Decker were particularly experienced running in a pack; Decker, primarily because she was a front runner and injured often, meaning she could easily lead in less competetive domestic events and because of injury had not competed all that much in more competetive international fields. Budd was only 17 and had made her name on the international cross-country circuit and in South African domestic events, where, like Decker she could take a huge lead and not have to worry about staying in the pack. Neither woman was particularly savvy about the strategy and poltics of running in the pack, unlike, eventual champion Maricica Puica or Budd's teammate Wendy Sly. Too bad, as this event proved to be both of their best chances at winning Olympic gold. Neither were in serious contention to medal at the Olympics ever again.

Did Decker get injured from the fall?

R3, I remember watching that live. The Canadian woman, Perdita Felicien, was the reigning world champion and favored for the gold. The Russian hurdler she helped knock over seemed pissed!

Decker deserved a Best Actress Emmy.

What a shame Mary Decker was named SI sportsperson of the year after this, there were women who deserved this more.

No, R38, Mary Decker was SI’s Sportsman of the Year in 1983, BEFORE the Olympics. The Sportsman of the Year honor in 1984 was shared between Olympic gold medalists Mary Lou Retton and Moses.

To be fair, wouldn't you be a little upset if you trained your whole life for one moment and it was taken away because of an accident?

R40 Oh please, she was such a pissy cry baby cunt after thge event, such a bad sportswoman, grody attitude

Seems to me that Decker felt entitled to the gold medal and it was only hers to lose.

The interview at R19 is hilarious! Mary's terrible attitude, plus the interviewer obviously not falling for her blame game. She questions the nature and extent of her injury and mentions her failed marriages.

R41=Maricica Puica

R9, I remember that picture being everywhere at the time.

Why did Mary Decker limit herself to one race at the Ols? She won tons of gold medals at the 83 World Championships in at least four different events. Was she injured? If that's the case it's possible she would have not won that race, Zola or not.

R15, this is why I love DL.

R46 Decker won two golds at the 83 world Championships over 3,000 and 1500 meters. The 3,000 meters came first in the Olympics I think.

I agree. It would really suck to put so much effort into something at the sacrifice of other things, then have it all crash down in a nanosecond.

R49, every runner knows that trips and falls happen or are a possibility. Decker was not special in experiencing an unfortunate fall during a race.

R50 most athletes get upset when this happens. There's almost always some stomping or crying. It's normal for people to get upset at huge disappointments. I knew one woman who was always very judgmental of any public person who got upset. This bitch would cry if she got a run in her pantyhose. I'm not exaggerating pantyhose were a huge issue for her. I also knew a lot of straight guys who had no problem with McEnro through his tennis racket, but if one of the women's eyes got at all watery it was a sign that women were weak and shouldn't be allowed to play.

I thought Zola Budd was the one who cheated at the Boston Marathon by taking a bus

The weirdest thing was not that Mary Decker complained about this right after the event, but that she did it for years. What id she think she was going to get out of complaining so much? Sympathy? That people would award her the gold because they felt so bad for her?

[quote] I thought Zola Budd was the one who cheated at the Boston Marathon by taking a bus

That was Rosie Ruiz in 1980, not Zola Budd.

R53, she won the gold medal.. of the American people’s heart.

What nobody ever mentions is that after the race, Decker took a fresh crap right in Budd's gym bag

Was Zola a known scat queen?

No, R57. But Mary Lou Retton was.

I remember the commentators immediately blaming Budd for cutting in too early and the crowd booing. Decker was considered a golden girl and snake-bitten when it came to the Olympics. She had been around a long time but either injuries or boycott kept her away from the Games. But she rarely came across as very likeable in interviews and basically disappeared after a drug test showed a high testosterone result. I believe she blamed it on birth control pills but she didn't make a come back that I can remember. I think she was close to 40 at the time so her career was coming to an end anyway. I actually did like her and hoped she would win an Olympic medal but she did come across as whiny and with a chip on her shoulder.

I remember chuckling about Decker.

Mary Decker's pussy stinks!

She really needs to get over it.

My sister has ALWAYS been a bitch.

She did eventually admit she was as much at fault as Zola Budd was, IIRC.

Indeed, R43, that interview at R19 was a hoot! The grimace on Decker’s when Kathleen Sullivan mentioned her failed marriage was hilarious!

It was quite a scandal at the time!

That barefoot bitch!

Mary was a bitch.

BUGGAWOLF

Contact with other runners, resulting in tripping, flailing, losing your line, happens regularly in any track and field races where the runners are not in assigned lanes. It's not the norm, but it happens often enough that it shouldn't be a surprise when it does happen. Decker-Budd just happened to be on an enormous stage and had the added drama of Decker crying on the infield.

It was Mary's fault.

Christ, I should have backed up and run that bitch over again.

I remember Martina feeling that she rather than Slaney should have won that SI award, and that they didn’t give it to her because of her “bisexuality.”

WHAT was the commercial Mary Lou did that had some annoying catchphrase? Was it for potatoes? Ore-Rida is All Right-a?

Ore-IDA

It was an accident. No way deliberate. Dekker was a very bad bitch.

Watch 'When Fates Collide - The Zola Budd/Mary Dekker Story' , very fucking good. Budd comes across as really classy and Mary....has matured over the decades. Also had no idea her ex husband beat the shit out of her, and that Zola had no idea but apartheid as no media covered it in S>A. Really good doco

Mary Decker's reaction turned off even many of her fans. I have always compared it to when Nancy Kerrigan got kneecapped by that troglodyte.

Her shrieking "WHY? WHY? WHY?" made almost everyone see her as a whiney entitled spoiled brat.

Zola's father was gay. After he and his wife divorced, he was shot to death by a 24-year-old man he had brought to his house. The killer got a light sentence by using a gay-panic defense.

I don't remember much about the fall or any of their reactions, but it would really suck to put so much effort into something then blow it by tripping. She must have dedicated years of her life to make it to the Olympics.

Mary had lots of bad luck. In 1980 US didn’t compete in Moscow, 1984 this and 1988 she was old. 1983 Helsinki was her game.

Barefoot. And the other runners are wearing spikes. I wonder if she can walk today.

r80 At least she made it to the race, I slept through mine!

R81 Oh yes, she goes on and on about that

Yeah R83, but when you did make it to the race, you grabbed Kramer’s hot coffee in the middle of it.