These are the official results of the Women's 3000 metres event at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. The final, held on August 10, 1984, was won by Maricica Puică of

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. This was the first ever 3000 meters race for women at the Olympics. The race is still remembered because of the fall of world champion Mary Decker after a collision with

Zola Budd Zola Budd (also known as Zola Pieterse; born 26 May 1966) is a South African Middle-distance running, middle-distance and Long-distance running, long-distance runner. She competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics, 1984 Olympic Games for Great Britain ...

. The winning margin was 3.51 seconds. This was the only time the women's 3,000 metres was won by more than one second at the Olympics. Mary Decker won the first heat to claim the new Olympic record. Maricica Puică improved upon the record in the third heat. South African teenager

had obtained British citizenship controversially fast (through an agreement between her father, Frank Budd, and the London ''

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'') in order to enter the Olympics. The

Apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

government of South Africa had been banned from worldwide competition. Budd, who intentionally ran barefoot, was essentially an unknown athlete on the world stage. Decker also was largely untested in domestic races and had relatively little experience running competitively in a crowd. In addition to being the favorite in the race, this was a hometown Olympics for Decker, having grown up barely 50 km (33 miles) from the Coliseum. From the gun, Decker went to the front, with Puică a metre back. Starting slower, Budd ran through the field to assume her position on Decker's shoulder 200 metres into the race. They ran in the same formation for three laps. With four laps to go, Wendy Sly moved forward to challenge for the lead next to Budd. Coming off the turn, Budd moved toward the curb. Decker stepped on her back kick, then shortly after, collided with the British runner and fell spectacularly to the curb, injuring her hip. As a result, Mary Decker did not finish the race. Decker was carried off the track in tears by her boyfriend (and later, husband), British

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field sport in which the participant athlete throws an oblate spheroid weight (object), weight called a discus in an attempt to mark a further distance than other competitors. It is a ...

er Richard Slaney. Puică rushed around Budd into the lead, with Sly on her shoulder as the bewildered Budd lost ground for a moment. But Budd ran around Puică and Sly to again take the lead. Deeper in the pack, somehow Brigitte Kraus also fell into the infield and out of the race. With a lap and a half to go, Sly again edged her way around Budd and into the lead. While Sly and Budd wore the same uniform, they were essentially strangers and there was no effort to cooperate tactically. Puică followed Sly around Budd and with 500 metres to go.Sky Documentary "Decker-Budd", aired on Danish DR2 2 August 2018 23:30 CEST Sly took the bell with Puică on her shoulder. With 250 metres to go, Puică passed Sly and went into her finishing kick, separating from Sly. Lynn Williams caught Budd and moved into third position. Budd continued to fall back through the field as the other athletes were launching their finishing kicks. Puică extended her lead over Sly, Williams even further back in third. Budd fizzled into seventh place. Out of 12 starters, 4 had fallen during the race, with two not finishing. As Puică crossed the finishing line, with Sly some 15 meters behind, she clearly appeared to have had more to give, if it had been necessary.

Medalists

Abbreviations

Final

Qualifying heats

*Held on 1984-08-08

References

External links

Official Report

{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics At The 1984 Summer Olympics - Women's 3000 Metres 5000 metres at the Olympics 1984 in women's athletics Women's events at the 1984 Summer Olympics