Mary Decker Slaney

Won double gold at 1983 World Championships.

Mary Teresa Decker was born on 4 August 1958 in Flemington, New Jersey, and developed into one of the finest middle-distance runners in American history, setting seven world and American records across distances from 800m to 10,000m in a single remarkable 1982 season that earned her the Sullivan Award. Decker married English discus thrower Richard Slaney in 1985, and entered the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics as the hometown favourite and reigning world champion in the 3000m, a race that would become one of the most infamous in Olympic history. During the final, Decker collided with barefoot South African-born British runner Zola Budd, tumbling to the track with a hip injury that ended her race in tears; she later said she did not believe the fall was deliberate, and the two runners eventually became friends, holding a rematch the following year that Decker won convincingly. Decker Slaney continued competing through the 1988 and 1996 Olympics despite recurring injuries and surgeries, though a positive drug test at the 1996 Atlanta Games led to a retroactive suspension in 1997. Several of her American records from the 1980s remained unbroken decades later, and she is remembered as one of the most talented and star-crossed distance runners of her generation.

One of America's greatest middle-distance runners despite Olympic heartbreak

• World champ 1500m & 3000m 1983