Zola Budd

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Zola Pieterse in running shoes in 2012

Zola Budd (after marriage to Zola Pieterse ; born May 26, 1966 in Bloemfontein ) is a former South African long-distance runner who also competed for the United Kingdom .

Life

Zola Budd became world famous in 1984 at the age of 17 when she was 15: 01.83 minutes short of the world record in the 5000 meter run ; However, due to the cultural boycott of South Africa due to the apartheid system at the time, the time was not recognized as a world record. Her running style also caused a stir: she always ran barefoot .

Since South Africa was excluded from all international sports competitions at the time, she applied for British citizenship, claiming that she had a British grandfather. The application was processed so quickly that she could compete for her new country at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles .

There she started in the 3000 meter run against her idol Mary Decker . The eight-year-old American was the favorite for the gold medal in this discipline. However, during the race they both collided, causing Mary Decker to crash and retire. The American audience then whistled the young athlete and saw her as the sole culprit for the elimination of one of the most popular American athletes. Zola Budd was annoyed seventh of the final run.

The following year she won the cross-country world championships and set a - recognized - world record over 5000 meters (14: 48.07 min). In 1986 she defended her world title in cross country and ran an indoor world record over 3000 meters. After that, however, she suffered from an injury so that she was without a medal at the European Athletics Championships in 1986 .

A dispute over alleged unauthorized participation in a sporting event in her home country led her to return to South Africa in 1988 and retire from competitive sports for several years.

In 1989 she married the South African Mike Pieterse. After the sport sanctions against South Africa were lifted, she was part of her country's team at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona , but did not reach the final over 3000 meters. A year later she was fourth in the Cross Country World Championships.

She trained every day from the age of 14, covered long distances at high speed and competed in a number of other tempo runs.

Since 2006 she has lived separately from her husband with their three children in Myrtle Beach , South Carolina . It's still running regularly, but now for fun. However, she has also successfully tried the ultramarathon . She took part twice in the Two Oceans Marathon (56 kilometers) and so far once in the Comrades Marathon (90 kilometers). She has been working as a full-time assistant trainer at Coastal Carolina University since 2015 and is doing her Masters in Sports Management .

Others

From the mid-1980s, South African shared taxis were named after the runner Izolabudd . The South African military vehicle Hippo also had this nickname.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Video about the collision at youtube.com, accessed on February 2, 2017
  2. ↑ Information at trackandfield.about.com (English), accessed on February 2, 2017
  3. ↑ Arnd Krüger : Many roads lead to Olympia. The changes in training systems for medium and long distance runners (1850–1997) . In: N. Gissel (Hrsg.): Sporting performance in change . Czwalina, Hamburg 1998, pp. 41-56.
  4. ↑ Barefoot between all fronts: Zola Budd , Runner's World , July 1, 2009
  5. ↑ Munch, Douglas F. Experience tells us: endurance sport can mimic phases of life: an interview with Zola Budd Pieterse. AMAA Journal 29.1 (2016): 10-12.
  6. ↑ Interview with Zola Budd at garycohenrunning.com (English), accessed on February 2, 2017
  7. ↑ Explanation of the word at dsae.co.za (English), accessed on July 17, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Budd, Zola
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pieterse, Zola
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African-British long distance runner
DATE OF BIRTH May 26, 1966
PLACE OF BIRTH Bloemfontein