News about Mary Decker
She was briefly the most-famous - and most-hated - athlete in the world. No wonder Zola Budd says being 'made to' run for Britain in the 1984 Olympics aged 17 was CHILD ABUSE... as she reveals it drove her to the edge of suicide
www.dailymail.co.uk,
August 6, 2024
As Zola Budd Pieterse paces slowly around the running track at the Coetzenburg Stadium, rain is threatening from dark clouds gathering above. She seems oblivious. Clutching an energy drink, feet in Hoka trainers, the 58-year-old school athletics coach is deep in the memories of a January day 40 years ago. It was here in this stadium that, as a 17-year-old barefoot runner, Zola broke the world record for the 5000 metres in a time of 15 minutes and 1.83 seconds - shattering the record held by American star Mary Decker by six seconds.