Top 10 Amazing Facts about Zola Budd

Zola Budd at the 1986 European Championships- Wikimedia.

Top 10 Amazing Facts about Zola Budd

Do you recall the story of Zola Budd? Think  again. Even if you recall how the barefoot prodigy broke world records, became a representation of South Africa’s discrimination, and was blamed for Mary Decker’s Olympic nightmare, her story has more heartbreak, harder-fought redemption, and far more strangeness than the legend.

1. What is Zola Budd famous for?

Zola Pieterse (née Budd; born May 26, 1966) is a middle-distance and long-distance runner from South Africa. She raced in the 3000m at the 1984 Olympic Games for Great Britain and the 1992 Olympic Games for South Africa.

She broke the world record in the 5000 meters in 1984 and 1985. She also won the World Cross Country Championships twice (1985, 1986). Budd’s career was unique in that she trained and raced primarily barefoot.

She moved to South Carolina with her family in 2008 and now runs marathons and ultra-marathons. She volunteers as an assistant coach at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina.

Her mile best of 4:17.57 in 1985 remains the British record.

2. Zola’s childhood and family background

Before Zola, Frank Budd and Hendrina Wilhelmina De  Swardt, whom  everyone called Tossie, had five children. Frank Jr., their third child, died at the age of 11 months from a viral infection. Tossie was in labour for three days and received 13 pints of blood when Zola was born six years later.

“The nurses told me the kid’s a stayer,”  Frank would tell reporters years later, before things got nasty.

When Zola was a child, her father was preoccupied with the printing plant that his father, an English immigrant, had founded—and Tossie was sickly. Jenny, the oldest of the Budd children, became the toddler’s defacto caregiver.

Jenny was 11 years old when her baby sister was born, and she read to her frequently. “Jock of the Bushveld” was their favourite. It is based on the true story of a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, the runt of the litter, who is saved from drowning by his owner and repays the favour by growing into a brave and noble champion.

According to family legend, Jenny was the first person Zola addressed as “mom” when she began talking.

3. How did Zola become fast at running?

Later on, during her teenage years, there would be stories about Zola training speed racing ostriches, and how her greedy father pushed her until she broke. They were half-truths, like many of the stories that swirled around Budd.

There were ostriches on the family farm, which was more of a menagerie than a farm, but she never raced them. And, while her father pushed her—he saw how fast she was and got her a coach—no one pushed her as hard as she pushed herself.

4. Sport professional life- 5000m world record

Zola Budd at the 1986 European Championships- Wikimedia.

Budd, who was born in Bloemfontein, Orange Free State, South Africa, rose to prominence in 1984, when she broke the 5000 m world record in 15:01.83.

The International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) refused to ratify Budd’s time as an official world record because her performance took place in South Africa, which was then barred from international athletics competition due to its segregation policy.

She officially set the world record in 1985 while representing Great Britain, clocking 14:48.07.

5. Budd didn’t know who Nelson Mandela was

When Budd arrived in England in 1984 on a temporary passport to compete for Great Britain in the Los Angeles Olympics, she was chastised for her ties to South Africa’s apartheid system of racial segregation. But, such was her ignorance, she had never heard of Nelson Mandela.

6. Protesters against apartheid booed Budd

Many of Budd’s races in the United Kingdom drew anti-apartheid protestors. Channel 4 once pulled a live stream of an athletics meet in Edinburgh because of “racist bitch” banners in the stands, and the English cross country championships in Birkenhead were invaded by demonstrators who forced Budd off the course and out of the race. “It felt like something out of a nightmare,” she said.

7. Budd ran barefoot but received sponsorship from running shoe companies

Tracks in a stadium Photo by: Gausanchennai- Wikimedia.

Budd, one of the most well-known barefoot runners in history, has been sponsored by two shoe companies throughout her career: Brooks and, more recently, Newton.

8. Why is Olympic 3000m in 1984 one of her most famous races?

The 3000 m race at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, California, was billed as a duel between Budd and world champion Mary Decker, with few reporting that a third competitor, Romanian Maricica Puică, had set the fastest time that year.

Decker took off quickly from the start, with Budd close behind, followed by Puică and Britain’s Wendy Smith-Sly. Budd took the lead on the straight and ran wide of the pack around the turn when the pace slowed just past the halfway point.

She set the pace, pulling herself, Decker, Smith-Sly, and Puică ahead of the pack.

Running in a group was an unusual situation for Budd and Decker, who were both accustomed to running in front and well ahead of their competitors.

The first collision occurred at 1700 meters. Decker collided with one of Budd’s legs, knocking him off balance slightly. Nonetheless, both women maintained their close proximity. Budd and Decker collided again five strides later, at 4:58, with Budd’s left foot brushing Decker’s thigh, causing Budd to lose her balance and sending her into Decker’s path.

Decker’s spiked running shoe slammed into Budd’s ankle just above the heel, causing blood to flow. Budd was visibly in pain on videotapes later examined by Olympic officials. Budd, on the other hand, kept her balance and stride.

Decker stepped on Budd, then collided with the British runner and landed spectacularly on the curb, injuring her hip. As a result, Mary Decker was unable to complete the race.

9. Decker tested positive for drugs

Tracks in a stadium Photo by: Gausanchennai- Wikimedia.

Decker continued racing after failing a drugs test for testosterone at the 1996 US Olympic Trials, including at the Atlanta Olympics and the 1997 World Indoor Championships, where she won 1500m silver at the age of 39, until the news of her positive came out in May 1997.

The IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) suspended her, but USA Track & Field cleared her after evidence revealed that her marginally positive test resulted from her taking birth control pills and drinking alcohol the night before the test.

She has maintained her innocence to this day, and the complicated nature of the case has resulted in changes in drug-testing procedures.

10. Budd is still well-known in South Africa

Due to her reputation for speed, taxi cabs in her home country of South Africa are named after her. Locals say, “Only a Zola will get me there now.”  Jason Henderson is the editor of Athletics Weekly and the author of ‘Collision Course: The Olympic Tragedy of Mary Decker and Zola Budd,’ which is available now from Birlinn for £12.99.