mary decker and zola budd Flashcards
1984 LA olympics
budd and decker made contact in 3000m race
decker injured
budd placed 7th
race extremely hyped bcs of south africa’s apartheid policy, SA athletes banned from competition
IOC pressured by neighbouring countries
IOC approach to apartheid
1962 ultimatum, when SA did nothing, 2nd ultimatum in 1963
banned SA in 1964, couldn’t compete tokyo 1964
1968, brundage rescinded this…then IOC overruled it
new zealand
SA not competing montreal 1976, but had international rugby matches w NZ
betrayal since countries unofficially isolating SA from sport
NZ not removed from olympics since rugby not olympic sport
22 black nations didn’t attend montreal
singapore declaration
commonwealth countries agreed to isolate SA
didn’t outline actions specific to sport
gleneages agreement
1977, commonwealth leaders made specific isolating actions including sport
zola budd
from south africa
pushed to be distance runner by sister jenny, who died of cancer in teen years
SA couldn’t compete internationally, but unofficial TF events
- by 1984, set unofficial 5000m record
parents divorced from trauma
thoughts father was closeted gay man, later murdered
mary decker
US, distance runner 1970s
at 14, ranked 1 in US and 4 in world
- extreme lvl drive
compartment syndrome prevented 1976 montreal
- couldn’t compete in 1980 bcs US boycott
1984, had all world records for women’s distance
- favoured to win
no relationship w dad bcs divorce
sir david english
chief editor of the daily mail
saw opp to make money from budd/decker
gave budd’s dad $100k for exclusive rights to her story
- agreed w/o consent
promised to speed up GB citizenship process
GB citizenship
her grandfather was born in GB, ancestral visa
pace at which processed was too fast…10 days
showed PM and immigration policies favoured white ppl from commonwealth
leon brittan
britain home secretary
knew david english
ignored advice of ministers and got budd citizensgip
invoked british nationality act
sir geoffrey howe
british foreign secretary, opposed to gov issuing citizenship
margaret thatcher
british PM, didn’t care abt gleneagles
wanted constructive engagement w SA to get rid of apartheid, rather than isolation
mark mccormack
wanted to get rights to budd’s story, but too late
sir david english had them
