- 2 Jul 08, 06:00 AM
Britain won an impressive 37 medals at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984.
Granted the Games were boycotted by the Soviet Union and the vast majority of the Eastern Bloc countries, but it was still Team GB's best post-war medal haul.
It was also the fifth most collected by any nation at the Games, but Britain had to be content with 11th on the medal table as only five were gold.
There were several great moments for Team GB with Seb Coe defending his 1500m title and Daley Thompson doing likewise in the decathlon.
But the headlines were stolen by Zola Budd in one of the most controversial races in Olympic history.
The South African, who ran barefoot and shattered Mary Decker's 5,000m world record early in 1984, aged 17, was unable to compete for her nation on the Olympic stage as it had been banned over its refusal to condemn apartheid.
But us wily Brits know a good thing when we see it, so she was encouraged to apply for citizenship by the Daily Mail on the back of her British grandfather and her application was, unsurprisingly, fast-tracked.
There was much controversy surrounding her application, which led to a massively hyped 3,000m final in LA where Budd took on American world champion Decker.
And the home favourite dictated the pace until Budd made a move at the halfway mark and took the lead.
The pair were running very close together and Decker knocked Budd slightly off balance before clipping her again a few strides later.
A third accidental collision moments later saw Decker stumble and fall onto the infield, hurting her hip in the process and ending her race.
A crescendo of boos rang out from the crowd, who held Budd responsible, although it is generally accepted that it is up to the trailing athlete to avoid contact with the runner ahead and a later inquiry found that the British runner was not at fault.
Budd faded to finish seventh, behind Romanian winner Maricica Puica and, here's a fact for you, Britain's Wendy Sly, who took the silver - how many of you remember that?
Decker famously refused to accpet an apology from Budd and the US media predictably sided with their athlete, while the British media, equally predictably, backed Budd at the time.
But who were you backing? And should Budd even have been competing for Team GB in the first place?
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I watched that race and it was a marvellous spectacle with the excitement spread before, during and even after the event. I believe if not for the incident Mary Dekker would have won although it must be said that the way Marcica Puica ran it would not have been that easy. Budd would been right in there as well.
As for the incident Budd was most certainly not to blame and I must say I lost a lot of regard for the way Dekker behaved after the race. Dekker was a magnificent middle distance runner, the best ever American, but her off-the-track comments certainly were very ungainly. So were that of a typically biased US media.
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The result of the Olympic 5000m final was never in doubt. Puica's 'preparation' for it and many subsequent highly lucrative races saw to that. Rumours and whispers followed her throughout a 'successful' career.
As for the Dekker/Budd incident, Scrivener accurately recalls that Dekker clipped Budd more than once prior to her fall in a manner which suggested she would not be upstaged in 'her' race by this young(er) upstart.
I replayed my recording of it (Betamax, far superior to VHS, allowing frame by frame slowmo forward and reverse - in 1984! VHS still can't do that) and Budd got a nudge which affected her stride minutely. Dekker's loss of balance cannot justifiably be attributed to it, but beyond doubt is the fact that nothing in Budd's behaviour or reaction to bustling could be seen as an attempt to trip or impede Dekker.
Although the American media behaved crassly, even despicably, towards Budd - as indeed did Dekker - in the aftermath of that race, discussing the incident with American athletics followers down the years suggests they hold very different, much more civilised views of it.
In the main, they were embarrassed by the rudeness, petulance and lack of sportsmanship displayed to Budd, not just by their media, but by their athlete who is still unjustifiably rankled by it.
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