Thirty years later, South Africa is seeing a rerun of controversy over an athletic event. Both incidents involved Zola Budd, a former world champion, a remarkable runner very dear to this country.
In 1984, it was a collision between the barefoot teen from Bloemfontein in the 3 000m final at the Olympics in Los Angeles, and the American hope, Mary Decker. They become tangled in the bunch, and Decker crashed to the tartan track.
Budd was booed and fell back to place seventh. She was running in British colours, and the English press backed her. As did many South Africans, amid howls of outrage and dismay. Americans did not. She was initially disqualified, but then officially cleared of wrongdoing. It was a major incident.
Now Budd’s loss of her win in her age category in the Comrades Marathon has drawn similar passion, much of it supportive of the fleet-footed athlete. Now 48 years old, she reaped a gold medal by placing seventh in only her second running of the ultra-marathon. This still stands.
But she did not have age tags attached to her vest, front and back, as road running regulations require. So athletics authorities voided her win.
The response on social media was largely condemnatory of the race, probably not knowing that Comrades bosses had nothing to do with it. Many people seem to believe she won it fair and square, viewing the decision as unjust.
If anything, their ire should be directed at the rule makers – particularly if the application of the rule is uneven, as Budd suggests.
This was no new rule, however. It has been in place for decades. It may be regarded as technical, silly even, but it has been enforced in other, lesser races where runners have forfeited age category prizes for failing to display their categories.
There would probably not have been such an outcry had it not involved Budd. It is lamentable, though, that she has suffered another athletics setback, albeit minor compared with 1984.
There is only one avenue for her: return next year, win another gold, and her age category.