Zola Budd
Zola Budd (after marriage Zola Pieterse, born May 26, 1966 in Bloemfontein ) is a former South African long-distance runner, who started for the United Kingdom.
Zola Budd in 1984, world famous at the age of seventeen, when she improved the world record in the 5,000 -meter run at 15:01,83 minutes. Caused a stir even her running style: She ran always barefoot.
Since South Africa was then excluded because of the apartheid system of all international sports competitions, she applied for British citizenship, which she claimed that she had a British grandfather. The application has been processed so quickly that they could compete in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles for their new country.
There she started in 3000 -meter run against her idol Mary Decker. The eight years his senior, U.S. citizen was in this discipline as a favorite for the gold medal. During the race, but both collided, so that Mary Decker fell and was eliminated. The U.S. audience whistled the young athlete then audible and saw them as the sole culprit for the resignation of one of the most popular American athletes. Zola Budd was unnerved Seventh Final run.
The following year she won at the World Cross Country Championships and set another world record in the 5000m at ( 14:48,07 min). In 1986 she defended her world title in cross-country running and ran an indoor world record over 3000 m. Then you made , however, a violation to create, so they remained without a medal at the European Athletics Championships in 1986.
A dispute over an alleged participation in a sporting event in their home country meant that she returned to South Africa in 1988 and retired for several years from competitive sports.
In 1989, she married Mike Pieterse. After the sports sanctions against South Africa were lifted, they belonged to the team of their country at the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992, but did not achieve more than 3000 m in the final. A year later, she finished fourth of the Cross Country World Cup.
Today she lives on her parents' farm with her mother, her husband and three children. She still runs regularly, but now for pleasure.