Zola Budd Enters Marathon as 36-year-old Mother

The “girl in bare feet,” Zola Budd from South Africa is now a marathoner. She competed in the women`s 3000m at the Los Angeles Olympic Games at the age of 17, but came in 7th because she fell, along with Mary Decker from the U.S. during the race. Now, as a mother of three children, she will enter the London Marathon on April 13.

Budd became an international star in middle and long distance races during the 1980s because she ran in her bare feet. She had been prohibited though from competing in the Olympics because she was from South Africa where race discrimination policies were still maintained. Therefore, Budd changed her nationality to British and participated in the Los Angeles Olympics.

Both Budd and Decker were in a feud at the time. When Decker tripped on track and the U.S. lost its gold medal, the American press argued that Budd intentionally made Decker trip.

“After the Olympic Games, I was like today`s Osama bin Laden,” Budd recently said about the incident.

This is the first time for Budd to enter a marathon.

“I run 20km a day for my health, and this race is really to ensure my fitness,” she said. Budd is expected to finish the race in about 2 hours 35 minutes.

After the Los Angeles Olympic Games, she retired from running because her race history as a South African national team member was exposed and she was prohibited from entering races by the IAAF. She married millionaire Mike Peter in 1989, and in 1991, the prohibition was removed and she participated in the women`s 3000m race at the 1992 Atlanta Olympics, but she did not make it to the final stage.

Budd started marathoning last year and began her “new career” this February by winning the half marathon held in Johannesburg, South Africa with a record of 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Jong-Koo Yang yjongk@donga.com