Sporting Witness
Sporting Witness
Zola Budd
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November 4, 2021
10 minutes
Available for over a year
At the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, South African-born Zola Budd collided with the home favourite, Mary Decker, in the final of the women’s 3,000 metres. Decker was left weeping on the ground, while Budd was booed by the crowd and had to leave the US with a police escort after receiving death threats. Simon Watts introduces the memories of Zola Budd as recorded in the BBC archives.
PHOTO: Zola Budd, left, with Mary Decker in the 1984 Olympic final (Getty Images)