Mary Decker

Mary Decker

Medal record
Women's Athletics
Representing United States
World Championships
	1983 Helsinki	1500 m
	1983 Helsinki	3000 m

Mary Slaney (born Mary Teresa Decker August 4, 1958) is an American former track and field athlete, who holds seven American records in her sport. In 1981 she married marathon runner Ron Tabb. The couple divorced two years later and on January 1, 1985 Decker married discus thrower Richard Slaney.

Early career

Making her international track debut as a pigtailed, 89-pound (40 kg) fourteen-year-old girl, "Little Mary Decker" became one of the most famous track and field competitors of her era. She won international acclaim in 1973 with wins in the 800 meter at a US-Soviet meet in Minsk. By 1974, Decker was the world record holder at 2:26.7 for 1000 meters, 2:02.4 for 880 yards, and 2:01.8 for 800 meters.

She did not compete in the 1976 Olympics because of stress fractures in her lower leg, and she missed the 1980 Olympics because of the U.S. Boycott of the Moscow Olympics.

Career peak

In 1982 Decker set six world records, at distances ranging from the mile to 10 000 meters. The following year she achieved a "Decker Double", winning both the 1500 meter and 3000 meter events at the World Championships in Helsinki, Finland. In 1982, she received the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States, and Sports Illustrated magazine named her Sportsperson of the Year for 1983.

Decker was heavily favored to win a gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics, held at Los Angeles. In the 3000 meters final, Zola Budd, half a stride ahead of Decker, moved to the inside lane, inadvertently crowding Decker, who collided with Budd and fell spectacularly to the curb. Decker's hip was injured and she was unable to resume the race. She was carried from the track by her future husband. At a press conference she said that Budd was to blame for the collision. (In track races it is generally the trailing athlete's responsibility to avoid contact with the runner ahead; on the other hand, it is an accepted convention among most distance runners that the leader should be a full stride ahead before cutting in.) Track officials initially disqualified Budd for obstruction, but she was reinstated just one hour later once officials had viewed films of the race.

In the August 20, 1984 edition of Sports Illustrated the commentary was the following:

That last brutal kilometer would begin in about 300 meters, on the backstretch. Now, as Decker relaxed, gathering herself, the slight, pale, barefoot, 92-pound form of Budd again came even with her. Budd had been outside Decker's right shoulder almost from the start, and Decker knew it. They had bumped elbows at 500 meters, a result of Budd's wide-swinging arm action, and Decker had shot her a sharp look. Budd had sensed the slowing pace and didn't like it. Her training and temperament combine to make her natural race one of constantly increasing pressure. She and her coach, Pieter Labuschagne, knew that she couldn't kick with a fresh Decker or (Maricica) Puica. If she was to run her best in this Olympic final, the pace would have to go faster. So she passed Decker on the turn, just after, 1,600 meters. Decker felt her uncomfortably close. "She was cutting in on the turn, without being near passing," Decker would say. By the end of the turn, Budd appeared to have enough margin to cut in without interfering with Decker's stride, but instead she hung wide, on the outside of Lane 1, as they came into the stretch. Decker was near the rail, a yard behind Budd. Budd's teammate, Wendy Sly, had come up to third, off Budd's shoulder, and Puica was fourth, tucked in tight behind Decker, waiting. Decker sensed Budd drifting to the inside. "She tried to cut in without being, basically, ahead," Decker would say. But Decker didn't do what a seasoned middle-distance runner would have done. She didn't reach out to Budd's shoulder to let her know she was there, too close behind for Budd to move to the pole. Instead, Decker shortened her stride for a couple of steps. There was contact. Decker's right thigh grazed Budd's left foot. Budd took five more strides, slightly off balance. Trying to regain control, she swayed in slightly to the left. Decker's right foot struck Budd's left calf, low, just above the Achilles tendon. Budd's left leg shot out, and she was near falling. But Decker was falling, tripped by that leg all askew. "To keep from pushing her, I fell," she would say. She reached out after Budd, inadvertently tearing the number from her back and went headlong across the rail onto the infield.

Decker returned to competition in January 1985, winning the Sunkist Invitational Indoor 2000 meters race, also in Los Angeles. Asked to apologize for her comments about Budd, she answered: "I don't feel that I have any reason to apologize. I was wronged, like anyone else in that situation."

Decker and Budd next met in July 1985, in a 3000 meters race at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in London, England. Decker won the race, and Budd finished in fourth place. After the race, the two women shook hands and made up. Decker later went on record as claiming that she was unfairly robbed of the LA 3000 meter Gold Medal by Budd, although many track experts doubt whether she would have beaten eventual winner Maricica Puica. Decker said many years after the event “The reason I fell, some people think she tripped me deliberately. I happen to know that wasn’t the case at all. The reason I fell is because I am and was very inexperienced in running in a pack."

Decker had a magnificent season in 1985, winning twelve prestigious mile and 3000 meters races in the European athletics calendar. She sat out the 1986 season to give birth to her only child, daughter Ashley Lynn (born May 30, 1986), but missed the 1987 season through injury, failed to medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea and did not qualify for the 1992 Games.

Controversy

In 1996, at the age of 37, as she qualified for the 5000 meters at the Atlanta Olympics, Decker became involved in the greatest controversy of her life. A urine test taken in June at the Olympic Trials showed a testosterone to epitestosterone (T/E) ratio greater than the allowable maximum of six to one. Disputes over that test result went on for years and the test remains controversial.

Decker and her lawyers contended that the T/E ratio test is unreliable for women, especially women in their late 30s or older who are taking birth control pills. One percent of all adult woman, and a higher percentage of older women, have T/E ratios of 6-to-1 and above. (In the meantime, Decker was eliminated in the heats at the Olympics.) An International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) arbitration panel eventually ruled it unnecessary to show that a T/E ratio was high because of a banned substance; the mere fact that the ratio was over the allowable maximum was enough. USA Track and Field (USATF) sided with Decker.

In June, 1997, the IAAF banned Decker from competition. In September, a USATF panel reinstated her. The IAAF cleared her to compete but took the case to arbitration. In April, 1999, the arbitration panel ruled against her, after which the IAAF stripped her of a silver medal she had won in the 1500 meters at the 1997 World Indoor Championships.

Decker filed suit against both the IAAF and the U.S. Olympic Committee which administered the test, arguing that the test is flawed and cannot distinguish between androgens caused by the use of banned substances and androgens resulting from the use of birth control pills. The court ruled that it had no jurisdiction, a decision which was upheld on appeal.

Later life

In 2000, at the age of 42, Decker again attempted to return to the Olympics, but failed to qualify.

In 2003, Decker was inducted into the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame, the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 2005 as well as being honored as one of the Rocky Mountains' greatest athletes ever.

See also

• List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences

External links

• USA Track and Field Hall of Fame - Mary Slaney