Zola budd biography
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However, the Olympics did not go as planned. Her legendary 3,000-metre race against her idol, “America’s Sweetheart” Mary Decker, lives in popular memory; Budd suffered a dramatic collision with Decker, and her Olympic hopes ended amid booing from a hostile crowd. As this performance took place in apartheid South Africa, the world track and field establishment refused to recognise the record.
As South Africa was banned from competing in any sporting code with other countries, the event took place without publicity that might have attracted anti-apartheid demonstrators.
Budd returned to South Africa after she was banned by the IAAF in 1988 because she allegedly took part in an event in this country, though she insisted that she only attended the event and did not run.
However, the record was not officially recognized due to the competition taking place in South Africa, where records were not acknowledged at the time.
Moving to England
When Zola arrived in England, the public unanimously advocated for her to be granted British citizenship, as this would allow her to represent Britain at the 1984 Olympics.
Currently, she is involved in coaching and training athletes.
Zola Budd, later Zola Budd-Pieterse, was a South African distance runner who ran for Great Britain at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Although the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) jury found that Budd was not responsible for the collision, she was booed by the crowd who favoured Decker.
In a low key event in Crystal Palace, England, Budd on 26 August 1985 broke the 5 000m world record set by Ingrid Kristiansens of Norway sixteen years previously by more than ten seconds to set a new mark of 15 minutes 1.83 seconds.
Budd eventually finished seventh, while Decker was carried from the track side. This was the method by which she was added to the Great Britain team.
At the Los Angeles Olympics Budd competed in the 3,000 metres where the favorite was US runner Mary Decker-Slaney. In 1984 she gained international recognition when, at the age of 17, she broke the women's 5000m world record.
Eventually, Zola decided to return to her homeland. After her recovery in 1988, she returned to competition but faced further setbacks. During a race, Zola had a collision with another athlete, resulting in a highly controversial situation. Just over four laps into the race, with Budd leading, Budd and Decker-Slaney collided, with Decker-Slaney falling to the ground with a hip injury and did not finish the race, in tears on the infield.
Today Budd lives in the US, coaching and still competing.
Zola Budd
Zola Budd was born on 26 May 1966 in Bloemfontein, Free State, South Africa. She raced well over the next few years, winning the 1985 World Cross-Country Championships, but injuries limited her effectiveness in the later 1980s.
In 1989 she returned to South Africa and represented them at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics but did not make the final of the 3,000 metres.
After marriage, Budd-Pieterse moved to South Carolina in 2008 and raced marathons and ultramarathons. Budd finished but placed seventh, the race eventually won by Romania’s Maricica Puică.
She still runs 16 – 24 km a day.
Zola Budd
| Famous athlete, talented athlete. Date of Birth: 26.05.1966 Country: Great Britain |
Content:
- Biography of Zola Budd
- Moving to England
- Olympic Disappointment
- International Success
- Later Career and Retirement
Biography of Zola Budd
Early Life and Sporting CareerZola Budd was born on May 26, 1966, in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
It was a curious tribute to the white, teenage, middle-distance athlete from Bloemfontein who ran barefoot, shattering records and becoming “the hottest property in world athletics”. Budd continued running for Britain but returned home in 1988 and competed for South Africa at the 1992 Olympics.