Mary Decker
Middle distance running | |||||||||||||||||||||
Event | 800–5000 m | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Club | Athletics West, Eugene[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
Retired | 1999 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||||||||
Personal best(s) | 800 m: 1:56.90 (1985) 1500 m: 3:57.12 (1983) Mile: 4:16.71 (1985) 3000 m: 8:25.83 (1985) 5000 m: 15:06.53 (1985) 10,000 m: 31:35.3 (1982)[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Mary Teresa Slaney (formerly Tabb,
Early life
Decker was born in Bunnvale, New Jersey. A decade later, her family moved to Garden Grove in Southern California, where Decker started running. A year later at the age of 11, she won her first local competition.[citation needed]
She joined her school athletics club and a local track club and completely immersed herself in running. At age 12, she completed a marathon and four middle- and long-distance races in one week, ending the week with an appendectomy operation.[citation needed]
Career
In her early teens, Decker was already recognized as a world-class runner. Unable to attend the 1972 Olympics as she was too young at 14, Decker, who ran wearing pigtails and at the weight of 89 lb (40 kg), won international acclaim in 1973 with a win in the 800 meters at a U.S.-USSR meet in Minsk, beating the reigning Olympic silver medalist Nijolė Sabaitė.[citation needed]
By the end of 1972, Decker was ranked first in the United States and fourth in the world in the 800 meters.[citation needed] In 1973, she set her first world record, running an indoor mile in 4:40.1. By 1974, Decker was the world indoor record holder with 2:02.4 for 880 yards, and 2:01.8 for 800 meters.
By the end of 1974, Decker had developed a case of the muscle condition
In 1981, Decker married fellow American distance runner Ron Tabb. The couple divorced in 1983.[8] In 1982, under the name Mary Tabb, she ran the mile in 4:18.08, breaking the official record of 4:20.89 by the Lyudmila Veselkova of the USSR, and this time was ratified.
Career peak
In 1982 Decker-Tabb set six world records at distances ranging from the mile run to 10,000 meters. She received the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States.
The following year she achieved the "Double Decker,"
The 1984 Olympic incident
Decker was heavily favored to win a gold medal in the
Decker and Budd next met in July 1985 for a 3000-meter race at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in London. Decker won the race, and Budd finished in fourth place. After the race, the women shook hands and reconciled. Decker later claimed that she was robbed of the 1984 Olympics 3000-meter gold medal by Budd, but many years after the event said: "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."[11] Budd and Decker later reunited for a 2016 documentary about the incident, The Fall.[12]
Decker had a successful 1985 season, winning 12-mile and 3000-meter races in Europe, including a new official world record for the women's mile of 4:16.71 in Zurich (Natalya Artyomova's 4:15.8 in 1984 was not ratified by the IAAF), a race in which she beat both Budd and Puică. Since that race in 1985, Decker's time has only been bettered four times.[13]
Decker missed the 1986 season to give birth to her only child, daughter Ashley Lynn (born May 30, 1986) and then missed the 1987 season because of injury. She qualified for the
Doping controversy
In 1996, at the age of 37, as she qualified for the 5000 meters at the Atlanta Olympics, a urine test taken in June at the Olympic trials showed a testosterone to epitestosterone (T/E) ratio greater than the allowable maximum of 6:1.[14] At the time of the positive test, Decker was being coached by Alberto Salazar.[15]
Decker and her lawyers contended that the T/E ratio test is unreliable for women, especially women in their late 30s or older who take birth-control pills. In the meantime, Decker was eliminated in the heats at the Olympics.[4]
In June 1997, the
In April 1999, Decker filed suit against both the IAAF and the
The T/E test threshold has since been tightened to a 4:1 ratio, and laboratories now also run a carbon isotope ratio test (CIR) if the T/E ratio is unusually high.[22]
Later life
Throughout her later career, Decker had suffered a series of stress-induced fractures. After the loss of her 1999 legal case, she underwent more than 30
International competitions
Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Representing United States | |||||
1979 | Pan American Games | San Juan, Puerto Rico | 1st | 1500 m | 4:05.7 |
1983 | World Championships | Helsinki, Finland | 1st | 1500 m | 4:00.90 |
1st | 3000 m | 8:34.62 | |||
1984 | Olympic Games | Los Angeles, United States | DNF | 3000 m | 8:44.32 (heat) |
1985 | Grand Prix Final | Rome, Italy | 1st | 3000 m | 8:46.38 |
1988 | Olympic Games | Seoul, South Korea | 8th | 1500 m | 4:02.49 |
10th | 3000 m | 8:47.13 | |||
1991 | Grand Prix Final | Barcelona, Spain | 2nd | Mile | 4:28.35 |
1996 | Olympic Games | Atlanta, United States | 21st (h) | 5000 m | 15:41.30 |
1997 | World Indoor Championships | Paris, France | DQ (2nd) | 1500 m | |
(h) Indicates overall position in qualifying heats. DNF = did not finish. DQ = disqualified. |
See also
- List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences
References
- ^ a b c d Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Mary Decker-Slaney". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020.
- ^ Mary Slaney at World Athletics
- ^ Mary Slaney (Decker) at USA Track & Field Hall of Fame
- ^ a b MacDonald, Jamie (November 29, 1999). "Mary Decker Slaney, Track and Field". Sports Illustrated for Women. CNNsi.com. Retrieved December 19, 2009.
- ^ Taylor, Susan Champli (September 29, 1986). "Mary Decker Takes a Run at Happiness with Husband Richard Slaney". Retrieved June 13, 2010.
- ^ Chronological Listing of U.S. Women Who Have Broken 4:30 in the Mile as of May 5, 2013[permanent dead link]. bringbackthemile.com
- ISBN 978-0942257403.
- ^ "Mary Decker Takes a Run at Happiness with Husband Richard Slaney". PEOPLE.com. Archived from the original on July 22, 2015. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
- ^ "Covers". CNN.
- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Athletics at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games: Women's 3,000 metres". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020.
- ^ Parker-Pope, Tara (August 1, 2008). "An Olympic Blast From the Past". The New York Times. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
- ^ Bradshaw, Peter (July 21, 2016). "The Fall review – Mary Decker and Zola Budd reunite for dramatic finale". The Guardian. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
- ^ One Mile – women – senior – outdoor. iaaf.org. Retrieved on October 9, 2016.
- ^ Litsky, Frank (April 14, 1999). "TRACK AND FIELD; Slaney Suing the I.A.A.F. In Dispute Over a Drug Test". The New York Times. Retrieved December 19, 2009.
- ^ LONGMAN, JERE (May 1, 1996). "TRACK AND FIELD; Slaney Tries New Approach to Olympic Quest". The New York Times. Retrieved August 14, 2012.
- ^ "Athletes Unretiring: The Comeback Kids". Business Week. Archived from the original on October 17, 2010. Retrieved December 19, 2009.
- ^ "Runner still feels regret over 1984 Olympics wipeout". Taipei Times. Reuters. July 25, 2009. Retrieved December 19, 2009.
- ^ Rowbottom, Mike (April 27, 1999). "Athletics: Slaney doping ban upheld at IAAF hearing". The Independent. London. Retrieved December 19, 2009.
- IAAF, pp. 47–48, retrieved September 27, 2015
- ISBN 978-0-88011-786-9.
- ^ "Mary Decker Slaney, Plaintiff-appellant, v. the International Amateur Athletic Federation and the United States Olympic Committee, Defendants-appellees, 244 F.3d 580 (7th Cir. 2001)". Retrieved August 31, 2016.
- ^ Cotton, Simon (March 1, 2010). "Five rings good, four rings bad". Education in Chemistry. Vol. 47, no. 3. Royal Society of Chemistry. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
- ^ Gene Cherry (July 28, 2009). "Mary Slaney still yearns to run". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
External links
- Mary Slaney at World Athletics
- Mary Slaney (Decker) at www.USATF.org
- Mary Slaney (Decker) at the USATF Hall of Fame (archived)
- Mary Slaney at Olympics.com
- Mary Decker-Slaney at Olympedia