Who did Mary Decker Slaney collide with in the 1984 Olympic 3000 Meter Final?
” Raymond Goldstone was one of 90 people with the correct answer this month, he provided a first person account: “On August 10, 1984, in the early evening, I was watching the race from my seat in the Los Angeles Coliseum. With approximately three laps left in the 3,000 Meter Final, Mary Decker Slaney was running in the inside lane. Her spikes “collided” with the shoeless right foot of, ZOLA BUDD. Reaching out as she fell, Decker Slaney tried to stay upright by grabbing something, anything: She managed to grab only Zola Budd’s number 151 off her back. She tried to get up, but could not. Like many others, my attention remained focused on the weeping, fallen runner; and I didn’t learn that Romanian Maricica Puica had won the race until well after it was decided when I saw her final strides replayed on the giant screen at the Peristyle end of the stadium.” The winner this month is David R. Gentry of The Woodlands, Texas. He receives a card autographed by Mary Decker Slaney!
