Zola and Mary recall the day of the great fall

27 July 2016 - 09:34 By OLIVIA PARKER

Twelve athletes lined up for the women's 3000m at the Los Angeles Olympic Games - but this was always a two-person race. AUGUST 11 1984.Twelve athletes lined up for the women's 3000m at the Los Angeles Olympic Games - but this was always a two-person race.It was Mary Decker, 26, blonde darling of Team USA with a string of world records behind her, against Zola Budd, 18, a shy South African prodigy who preferred to run without shoes.The stakes were exorbitant. In a new documentary about the race Decker, now 57, says that at that moment she felt: "I'm finally here." Three chances at Olympic success had already evaded her. 1984 was Decker's time.Budd, meanwhile, was struggling with different emotions."I felt like 'What am I doing here?' I'm not supposed to be here." She was only present because a British newspaper had bought the rights to her life story and fast-tracked her application for British citizenship.The move had made Budd the target of anti-apartheid campaigners.The crowds were expecting a historic showdown. But what actually happened created more of a storm than anyone could have predicted: 1700m in, Decker and Budd were leading the field when Budd appeared to try to move in front of her rival. Decker tripped and fell to the side of the track, wailing in agony, her race over.Budd ran on to a chorus of boos and finished seventh - a move she now says was conscious."Every race I went to there were people booing, spitting, shouting. It was just one race too many," she says.The South African apologised to Decker, but the snapped reply was "don't bother".Decker held a tearful press conference, blamed Budd for her fall and earned herself the nickname "America's crybaby".In the decades since neither athlete has ever been able to shake off "the incident", as Budd now calls it.It's why both she and Decker agreed to the new documentary, titled The Fall, hoping at last that they might lay the race to rest."The film crew promised me it wouldn't be biased and I'd have a chance to say my story," says Budd, who is now 50 and lives on America's east coast, coaching running in her spare time.Neither Decker nor Budd knew much about each other when they lined up for that race. The end of the documentary shows them meeting back at the LA Coliseum for the first time in many years, and each says how surprised they are to discover the common threads in their lives.Neither says the events of 1984 weigh much on their minds now, although both had avoided watching replays of their race. Budd says she was made to feel she'd "sold my soul to the devil" by agreeing to get her new passport in order to run."At that time with all the politics I regret what happened and I regret being put in the forefront of the anti-apartheid movement." - ©The Daily Telegraph ..

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