Decker Slaney Goes the Distance. Like many athletes, runner Mary Decker Slaney suffered a number of injuries during the height of her career, but despite these setbacks, Decker Slaney continued to set world records whenever she hit the track. Some of her record-setting races are highlighted here. . Decker Slaney Goes the Distance The disappointments of runner Mary Decker Slaney frequently overshadowed her triumphs. Her misfortunes in several Olympics--injuries, a United States boycott, and her well-documented fall in the 1984 games after becoming entangled with South African runner Zola Budd--stand among the enduring images of her career. In the early 1980s Decker Slaney established herself as one of the best middle-distance runners in the history of the sport. She was certainly one of the most celebrated female runners in the United States. In 1982 Decker Slaney set seven world records, including three in six weeks, and was the fastest American runner at all race distances from 800 meters to 10,000 meters. Natural ability and sheer will propelled her to a series of unprecedented performances that year. In most of her record-setting races the competition posed no real challenge. Decker Slaney's enthusiasm for running was almost an obsession. Her intensity may have contributed to her career-long battle with injuries. In 1977 several doctors told Decker Slaney that she suffered from a muscle condition called compartment syndrome, which prevents sheaths of tissues from expanding with the muscles. Two surgeries on her shins helped relieve the condition, and by 1980 Decker Slaney was back in top form. That year she set her first world record, running a mile in a time of 4 minutes 21.7 seconds. Primed for an Olympic medal, she was denied the chance to compete because of the 1980 U.S. boycott of the Olympic Games in Moscow. In 1980 Decker Slaney underwent surgery to repair a partially torn Achilles tendon. The next year she had a third operation on her shins and missed almost a year of competition. By 1982 she had recovered and was set for her finest stretch of competition. At the Los Angeles Times Games in Inglewood, California, on February 6, 1982, Decker Slaney broke two indoor world records in one race. In the 3000-meter race, Decker Slaney's first 2000 meters were clocked at 5 minutes 53.4 seconds, breaking the previous record for 2000 meters by almost 2 seconds. Decker Slaney's finishing time of 8 minutes 47.3 seconds broke the indoor record time of 8 minutes 50.8 seconds set by Grete Waitz of Norway in 1980. The second-place runner finished 28 seconds later. "I'm really disappointed because I don't feel that tired," she told the New York Times. "I had so much left at the end. Certainly I'm happy with the time, but I'm sure I could have run faster." Decker Slaney set the world record in the 5000 meters with a time of 15 minutes 8.26 seconds in a race on June 5 in her hometown, Eugene, Oregon. Decker Slaney broke her own record in the mile race on three occasions in 1982. On February 19 at the San Diego Invitational indoor track meet in California she recorded an indoor time of 4 minutes 20.5 seconds, which lowered the mark she had set a week earlier in New York. Her time was the fastest mile, indoor or outdoor, ever run by a woman. On an outdoor track on July 9 at the Paris International track-and-field meet she blazed the mile in 4 minutes 18.08 seconds, breaking both the indoor and outdoor records. Two days earlier, at a meet in Oslo, Norway, Decker Slaney set an American women's outdoor record in the 3000 meters with a time of 8 minutes 29.71 seconds. Fresh from her European triumphs, Decker Slaney flew home to Eugene to rest for a few weeks before attending other European meets. On the plane she encountered U.S. runner Alberto Salazar, also beaming from a successful trip with two American records in the 5000 meters and the 10,000 meters. Salazar mentioned that he felt good enough to run another 10,000-meters race the next day at an amateur meet in Eugene that would be open to anyone who showed up. "All-comers meets?" she asked him incredulously, according to Sports Illustrated. "You'd want to run that hard in a little all-comers meet?" The meet, at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus, was scheduled less than 24 hours after Decker Slaney returned from the 16-hour overseas flight. Always eager to run, she called her trainer, Dick Brown, who told her it was fine to run the race if she promised to save her legs by not wearing racing spikes and running easy if she felt tired. Within 50 m (150 ft) of the start she left the field behind. "The pace felt way too slow," she told Sports Illustrated. "I just picked it up to where I felt relaxed." She ran the laps in approximately 76 seconds each, running each of the six miles in under 5 minutes 10 seconds to finish at 31 minutes 35.3 seconds, the fastest 10,000 meters ever run by a woman on a track. It was her third world record in six weeks. Decker Slaney continued to set world records. At the 1983 World Track and Field Championships in Helsinki, Finland, she raced against the best Russian and Eastern European runners. In the 3000 meters she surprised the field by never relinquishing the lead. She beat top Soviet runners Tatyana Kazankina and Svetlana Ulmasova. Four days later in the 1500 meters Decker Slaney again grabbed the lead early. She held it until the final curve, where Zamira Zaitseva, another Soviet runner, passed her. Decker Slaney gathered herself for the final kick and edged past Zaitseva to score her second victory at the meet. "Mary Decker returned to the United States as a national hero," David Wallechinsky, author of The Complete Book of the Olympics, said. "Beautiful and strong, she had defeated the Soviets. She seemed to symbolize all that was good about the American character." Decker Slaney was tabbed as the favorite for the 1984 Olympic Games, held in Los Angeles, California. Because of an overlap between events she could not compete in both the 1500 meters and the 3000 meters. She chose the 3000 meters. The field included Zola Budd, a teenage running sensation competing for Great Britain because her native South Africa was barred from the Olympics. One of the most controversial events in Olympic history occurred during the race. With 1300 meters remaining, Budd and Decker Slaney were among the pack of leaders. The two runners bumped, causing Budd to lose her balance. Decker Slaney tripped on Budd's right foot, falling forward into the infield and pulling a muscle in her hip. Crying out in pain and frustration, Decker Slaney left the track and refused to accept apologies from Budd, who had long admired Decker Slaney. Decker Slaney later told People magazine that she didn't blame Budd but "hated the fact that it was an opportunity for me that got messed up." After recovering from the pulled muscle, Decker Slaney returned to running in 1985 to set yet another world record in the mile. Continually hampered by injuries she competed in the 1988 Olympics, placing tenth in the 3000 meters and eighth in the 1500 meters. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
