Wendy Sly 'honoured' to be awarded MBE 30 years after her famous 3,000m race
Wednesday 31 December 2014 17:53, UK
Thirty years after her silver-medal winning performance at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, Wendy Sly has been awarded an MBE for her services to sport.
Sly won her Olympic medal in the now infamous Olympic race where American sweetheart Mary Decker appeared to have been tripped by Zola Budd, who had been running the race barefoot and eventually finished seventh.
Sly’s award, however, is in recognition not only of her performances on the track but also of her work as a mentor beyond it: she has managed Great Britain’s senior cross-country team since 2007 and sits on the board of England Athletics.
It is the part she played in that famous 3,000m race, and the growth of women’s distance running ever since, for which she is most well-known.
“It was a very close race, it was a very close starting list, really: there were four or five of us in contention for the medals that day," Sly said of the Los Angeles event.
"And there was a bit of tripping which then ended up in a fall, and it was a chase between barefoot Zola Budd, the adopted South African running for Great Britain, and Mary Decker, who was the American sweetheart.
“It stole the headlines after the race and for a very long time after that. And it’s still being talked about.
“My biggest fear at the time was that we would have to run the race again: the crowd were booing, it was quite dramatic, and it was the two most controversial and headline grabbing characters in the race.
“And my first thought was ‘Crumbs, I’m going got have to do this again tomorrow’, but it wasn’t to be and I was able to get my medal – just over 30 years ago, which is quite scary.”
Sly has played a part in the development of women’s middle to long distance running: Los Angeles marked the first time the 3,000m and marathon events were included in the Olympic women’s schedule.
“I think what we were able to do during the mid to late 80s was prove that women could compete at the longest distances to very, very high standards,” Sly said.
“Paula [Radcliffe] running such fast times over 10km and marathon has just further proved that point."
Sly still ranks in the UK all-time top 10 list in the 3,000. She is also the holder of the UK indoor one mile record, a distance she ran in 4m 28.58s.
