My memory of watchin Mary Decker was at the Bruce Jenner Track Meet in San Jose sometime in the early 80′s. It was either the 1500m or 3000m but she was entirely alone from the beginning. During that time the US women distance runners were weak. Absolutely no one could contend with Decker. It looked like she wasn’t even trying that hard but by the time she finished, there was no one within 300 meters. She was the darling of womens track and after she crossed the finish line there would be all these people giving her bouquets of flowers along the fence. It was pretty cool to see how dominant she was in person.
But what made her bad ass IMO was taking on the Russian Queens at the ’83 world championships. Let’s set this up.
- Mary had never faced the kind of competition where she ran in a pack – because in the US almost no one could keep up with her
- Europe and especially the USSR dominated womens distance running – there was no way some skinny American who liked to run from the front was going to win – no respect.
- This was the Cold War Era, it wasn’t about seeking love and peace with the THEN Soviet Union – it was about being better than them at everything from making nuclear bombs to winning gold medals
And this is where the excitement and intrigue was. For some younger people its hard to imagine the knd of nationalism that existed in both countries. It was all about what country was the best and so when Mary Decker raced the Russians it was national pride on the line. The pressure was crazy, Mary was the best US womens runner of ALL TIME – if she couldn’t win, our nation was a failure.
As for me, I was and am for better or worse a product of that era. I bleed red, white and blue and I take it personally if we win (USA chant) or lose (totally devastated. So when I watched Mary in the 1500 sprint the those last 200 meters just her and the 3 Russian Queens I was jumping and yelling like a tweeny at a Jonas Bros concert. And when she dug down and passed the Russian at the last 10 meters, crossing that finish line in front, I was genuinely proud. And that is why is was a bad ass.
Here is Mary’s greatest moment. The announcers can’t even contain themselves
