Decker, Mary
Identification American middle-distance runner
Born August 4, 1958; Bunnvale, New Jersey
The only American runner—male or female—to hold the
U.S. records in all middle-distance running events simulta-
neously, Decker dominated women’s track in the 1980’s.
Exploding into the international track-and-field
scene in her early teens and quickly setting several
world records, “Little Mary Decker” by the early
1980’s had secured her place as one of the United
States’ most charismatic and successful track-and-
field figures, known for her tiny frame (she was
barely ninety pounds) and her signature pigtails, as
well as for her fierce competitiveness. Decker set six
world records in 1982 alone, and, in that same year,
she won both the 1,500-meter dash and the 3,000-
meter dash in the Helsinki World Track Champion-
ships, an unprecedented achievement for which she
was namedSports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the
Year, as well as receiving both the Amateur Athletic
Union (AAU) James E. Sullivan Award for outstand-
ing amateur athlete and the Jesse Owens Track and
Field Award. She was the first woman thus honored.
Expected to win handily at the 1984 Summer
Olympics in front of an enthusiastic American
crowd in Los Angeles, Decker collided with a South
African runner, Zola Budd, in the home stretch of
the grueling 3,000-meter run and tumbled into the
infield, injuring her hip. She could not finish the
race. Although she blamed Budd for crowding her
in a clumsy attempt to pass her, race officials did not
penalize Budd. The heartbreaking photo of the
stricken Decker, in tears, helplessly watching the
other runners pass by became one of the defining
images of that Olympics.
Decker was far from finished, however. Indeed,
1985 would be her most accomplished year, an unde-
feated season in which she won a dozen 1-mile and
3,000-meter races, along the way setting two world
records, including a 4:16.7 outdoor mile. Married in
1985 to discus thrower Ron Slaney, Decker did not
compete in 1986 while she had a baby. She contin-
ued to train afterward, but injuries frustrated her at-
tempts to qualify for either the 1988 or the 1992
Olympic Games.Impact Despite her moment of widest celebrity
coming from her fall in the Los Angeles Olympics
and her subsequent very public demand for Budd’s
disqualification, which many saw as whiney, unpro-
fessional, and further evidence of the decade’s gen-
eration of athletes being spoiled—and despite her
failure to win any Olympic medals in her long ca-
reer—Mary Decker is recognized by track-and-field
aficionados for her unparalleled dominance of the
sport. Her competitive record, including several
world records that survived into the twenty-first cen-
tury, marked her as one of the all-time great run-
ners. Her career was also remarkable for its longev-
ity: Decker began competing at the age of eleven
and—despite career-threatening injuries and more
than twenty surgical procedures, family obligations,
and the distractions of the media—she continued toThe Eighties in America Decker, Mary 275
At the 1984 Summer Olympics, Mary Decker (right) is passed
by Zola Budd in the 3,000-meter race shortly before the two col-
lided. Decker was unable to finish the race.(AP/Wide World
Photos)