30 Facts About Zola Budd

Zola Budd is a South African middle-distance and long-distance runner.

Zola Budd competed at the 1984 Olympic Games for Great Britain and the 1992 Olympic Games for South Africa, both times in the 3000 metres.

Zola Budd was a two-time winner at the World Cross Country Championships.

Zola Budd returned to South Africa in 1989, and represented South Africa at the 1992 Summer Olympics.

Zola Budd moved with her family to South Carolina, USA in 2008; and competed at marathons and ultramarathons.

Shortly afterwards, Zola Budd was forced to pull out of a 1500 metres race in Crawley, Sussex, when the town council withdrew their invitation at short notice.

In Britain, Zola Budd trained at Aldershot, Farnham and District Athletics Club.

Decker came into contact with one of Zola Budd's legs, knocking Zola Budd slightly off balance.

Zola Budd, deeply affected by the occurrence, continued to lead for a while, but faded, finishing seventh.

Zola Budd's finishing time of 8:48 was well outside her best of 8:37.

In general, it is the trailing athlete's responsibility to avoid contact with the runner ahead; whether or not Zola Budd had sufficient control of the race to have pulled into the curve as she did was hotly disputed.

Zola Budd competed internationally for the UK in 1985 and 1986.

Zola Budd's form improved significantly after this race as she then went on to break the UK and Commonwealth records for the 1500 m, the mile, the 3000m and the 5000m.

Zola Budd finished third in all three races, with Decker-Slaney and Puica consistently coming first and second, respectively.

Zola Budd competed in both the 1500m and 3000m at the European Championships but did not win a medal in either, finishing 9th and 4th, respectively.

In 1988, Zola Budd began to compete again with a handful of cross-country runs.

Zola Budd said she only attended the event and did not compete.

Zola Budd was suspended, at which point she returned to South Africa, and retired from international competition for several years.

Also in 1989, Budd published her autobiography, Zola.

On her return to South Africa, Zola Budd began racing again.

Zola Budd had an excellent season in 1991 and was the second-fastest woman in the world over 3000m.

Zola Budd remains the holder of numerous British and South African records at junior and senior levels, and still holds two junior world records: the mile and 3000m.

Zola Budd initially had a two-year visa that allowed her to compete on the US masters' circuit.

Zola Budd raced in the South Carolina division of USA Track and Field, winning the women's division of the Dasani Half-Marathon during Bi-Lo Myrtle Beach Marathon on 14 February 2009 with a time of 1:20:41.

Zola Budd would participate in the Two Oceans Marathon during the Easter weekend of 2012 as she trained towards the Comrades Marathon which she ended up finishing in 8:06:09, earning a Bill Rowan Medal.

In June 2014, Zola Budd entered the Comrades again, hoping for an overall silver medal and for a time under 7 hours 30 minutes.

Zola Budd beat her time target, finishing with a time of 6:55:55 and earning a gold medal for a top 10 finish as well as a gold medal as the 1st 'veteran' finisher while coming in as the 7th female finisher overall.

Zola Budd dedicated her 2014 Comrades run to South African teacher Pierre Korkie, held captive in Yemen by Al-Qaeda for one year.

Zola Budd was stripped of her 'veteran' gold medal following accusations that she did not display a small age category tag on her running vest, in addition to the veteran designation already displayed on her running bib.

In March 2015, Zola Budd won the Run Hard Columbia Marathon in a time of 3:05:27.