ZOLA BUDD COMPETING IN COMRADES MARATHON – By David Martin

Zola Budd one of the most controversial athletes during her career will compete at the high profile Comrades Marathon from Pietermaritzburg to Durban in June.
 
Budd who conveniently switched nationality from South Africa to Great Britain when the former nation was banned from the Olympic Games because of its apartheid policy, had a chequered career after the move.
 
She will always be remembered for the incident when a clash of legs saw her accidentally send Mary Decker to the ground in the Olympic 3000 metres wrecking the American's chance of winning a gold medal on home soil in Los Angeles at the 1984 Games.
 
She qualified for the Comrades Marathon which is over approximately 90 kilometres after finishing fourth at the Kiawah Island marathon in South Carolina in December, clocking 3:01.51.

“She told me she hoped to run under eight hours which is within her capability,” Nick Bester winner of South Africa's most famous race in 1991 told Soweto Live of her intended participation at the ultra marathon in KwaZulu-Natal.
 
“She has been running quite a lot the last few years, and she did very well in cross country last season, so she definitely has the speed.”   
 
Budd now based in the USA and 45, despite the Olympic setback had a distinguished career in a British international vest highlights including winning two IAAF World Cross Country titles in 1985 and 1986.

David Martin