New doccie on Zola Budd Pieterse .
Zola Budd Pieterse reveals how a documentary about that clash with Mary Decker at the 1984 Olympics has helped her to heal
YOU’D think she’d been dying to brag to her kids about her glory days. How she won heaps of medals and was so famous minibus taxis were known as Zola Budds in her honour. But the South African legend is far too modest for that. When Zola Budd Pieterse (51) is with her family she actually goes out of her way to avoid any talk of athletics or the career that once turned her into a household name.
“It’s just not that important,” she explains as she chats to us over the phone from Myrtle Beach in South Carolina, US, where she and her husband, Mike Pieterse (55), have lived with their three children for the past nine years. “When we’re together it’s about us and nothing else.”
That’s why for most of their childhood Lisa (21) and twins Michael and Azelle (19) were completely in the dark about their mom’s past. They had no idea she was once known as “the barefoot runner from Bloemfontein”, or that she shattered world records.
It was only when they were old enough to begin surfing the internet that things started coming into focus. But even so, they still weren’t entirely aware of everything their mom had gone through – her Olympic dream that ended in tears.
In 1984 Zola, then just 17, found herself in a storm of controversy when she collided with American runner Mary Decker (then 26) – the favourite to win gold – while competing in the 3 000 m race at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, causing Mary to fall. While Mary lay wailing at the side of the track, Zola initially kept running but the boos of the crowd rattled her and she slowed down, eventually finishing seventh.
Afterwards Mary held a tearful news conference in which she blamed the South African. Little wonder Zola was keen to shield her kids from this humiliating chapter of her life.
So when producers approached her and asked her to participate in a documentary about the incident, she thought long and hard about it but eventually decided it was time to confront her past.
Entitled The Fall, the documentary, which saw her being reunited with Mary (now 58) for the first time since the event, caused major waves when it initially aired in England last year (YOU, 11 August). But Zola was happy when it was also recently screened in South Africa as part of the Encounters Film Festival.
“It was a chance to set the record straight and tell my side of the story,” Zola says.
But she admits her kids found the documentary upsetting. It depicts the tense build-up to the Olympics and how Zola was targeted by anti-apartheid activists who’d follow her around and hurl abuse at her. During apartheid, South Africa was banned from taking part in the Games but Zola was eligible to compete under the British flag because she had a British grandfather.
Although Zola admits it was hard revisiting this painful episode she says the documentary brought her a sense of healing.
“I think it was good for me – and for Mary.”
She says the one thing the traumatic incident taught her is that life goes on.
“Tomorrow the sun comes out again. Something bad might have happened today but tomorrow you’ll get a chance to try again.”
‘The running part of my life will always be there’
AS SHE chats to us over the phone we can hear her zipping up suitcases. She’s packing for a flight to Oregon – one of the athletes she coaches at the Coastal Carolina University is taking part in a track event and she’s going along to offer support.
Although Zola enjoys helping young students reach their full potential she admits being a coach is one of the hardest things to do. “You can never be 100 percent sure you’re doing the right thing and you need to remember you’re working with people, not just athletes.”
But she reckons as a former athlete she has an advantage.
“I think it helps that I know how they feel before they compete in a race and also how they feel when they’re disappointed. It puts things into perspective for you as a coach because you’ve been there yourself.”
Although her focus is now on coaching she still finds time to do a bit of running herself.
“About two weeks ago I took part in a marathon in Stirling, Scotland. It was so much fun. Soon I’ ll begin doing cross-country again and when the season for track athletes starts I’ll start taking part in the 10 000 m event to help pace some of the girls I coach.”
Despite everything, she still loves competing – although she no longer runs barefoot, opting for trainers.
“I don’t think I’ll ever not run. These days I tell people that although I don’t compete any more I still take part. The running part of my life will always be there, the only difference is how hard and how much I train.”
The family’s decision to live in America was mostly based on Zola’s athletics career. “I’d always told Mike (a South African businessman whom she married in 1989) I want to compete in the American athletics circuit when I turn 40,” she says. “They have a lot more races and events for master athletes. We also wanted to show the children a different lifestyle and we had the opportunity to do that. “Initially we thought we’d just come for two years and see what happens but after two years the children had adapted to their schools and we didn’t want them to make a change again. We decided to stay till they finished school but then I also found work here. So it was a gradual process.” And now they’re well and truly settled. In addition to Sherman the cockatiel – who we can hear chirping in the background – they also have four dogs. Myrtle Beach is a large coastal city popular with tourists because it has the most golf courses in the US. Zola says due to the nature of her work she’s outside a lot and enjoys the pleasant climate. Al t hough they’ve lived in America for years she and her husband have made sure their children don’t forget their roots.
“We speak Afrikaans at home. The children only really speak English to their friends and at school. It’s also nice for them to watch Afrikaans TV shows on Showmax (an online service that lets you stream and download South African movies and series). We watch these shows and it’s something that makes us feel closer to home.”
Lisa took part in long-distance running like her mother but when she started university she decided to focus on her studies. Michael still runs and will continue when he starts university in August. “Then I’ll coach him – we’ll have to see how it goes,” says Zola with a note of motherly pride in her voice.
Although she misses South Africa every day she says the Americans have been good to her family, making them feel welcome.
Zola’s parents, Frank and Tossie, have passed away but her brother, Quintus (55), and one of her sisters, Estelle (60), still live in Bloemfontein while her other sister, Cara van der Westhuizen (55), lives in Pretoria.
She and her family visit South Africa about every two years. They still have a house in Glentana in the Western Cape and they haven’t ruled out returning home permanently one day. But in the meantime whenever they visit, Zola makes sure they tuck into plenty of Creme Soda and biltong – the American versions just aren’t same, she says.