ZOLA Budd received her Newsmaker of the Year trophy on Friday, 28 years after she had been selected to get the award by the Johannesburg Press Club.
Budd was honoured in September 1984 as the first and youngest Newsmaker of the Year, but never received the trophy because it is a floating trophy and no replica was available for her.
A gala banquet was held at the Ellis Park stadium. British Tory MP John Carlisle was the keynote speaker and local musician Nick Taylor sang a song in her honour. The shy 17-year-old barefoot runner from Bloemfontein thanked the Press Club in one sentence in Afrikaans.
On Friday Gert Oosthuizen, the deputy sports minister, presented the yellowwood trophy to Budd, 45, who will compete in her first Comrades ultra-marathon between Pietermaritzburg and Durban in June.
Budd, who now lives in South California in the US, spoke eloquently in English for almost 10 minutes.
"A lot of things have changed, a lot of things haven't changed. I am still the same person," she said. "I still find it very challenging and that is why I am running the Comrades. It's all about the camaraderie." The mother of three said her eldest daughter Lisa ran cross-country and the youngest ran for fun.
"I will encourage them to be busy, but never to be competitive runners," Budd said.
"Life is too short and there are just too many other things to do. I encourage them to use running as a tool to stay healthy and promote a healthy attitude to life." Budd said she was still active and competing in her age group.
"I started running seriously at the age of 14 and I turned 45 this year, but I'm still looking forward to running."
She first made heads turn in 1983 when she clocked a remarkable time of 8:39.00 over 3000m in Durban at the age of 16. In 1984, she broke the women's 5000m world record. The International Amateur Athletics Federation refused to recognise the performance because South Africa had been banned from competing internationally before the start of the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964.
She applied for British citizenship to sidestep the boycott and officially claimed the 5000m world record while representing Britain in 1985, clocking 14:48.07.
She still holds two junior world records: the mile and the 3000m. - Sapa
Zola Budd gets cup at last
ZOLA Budd received her Newsmaker of the Year trophy on Friday, 28 years after she had been selected to get the award by the Johannesburg Press Club.
Budd was honoured in September 1984 as the first and youngest Newsmaker of the Year, but never received the trophy because it is a floating trophy and no replica was available for her.
A gala banquet was held at the Ellis Park stadium. British Tory MP John Carlisle was the keynote speaker and local musician Nick Taylor sang a song in her honour. The shy 17-year-old barefoot runner from Bloemfontein thanked the Press Club in one sentence in Afrikaans.
On Friday Gert Oosthuizen, the deputy sports minister, presented the yellowwood trophy to Budd, 45, who will compete in her first Comrades ultra-marathon between Pietermaritzburg and Durban in June.
Budd, who now lives in South California in the US, spoke eloquently in English for almost 10 minutes.
"A lot of things have changed, a lot of things haven't changed. I am still the same person," she said. "I still find it very challenging and that is why I am running the Comrades. It's all about the camaraderie." The mother of three said her eldest daughter Lisa ran cross-country and the youngest ran for fun.
"I will encourage them to be busy, but never to be competitive runners," Budd said.
"Life is too short and there are just too many other things to do. I encourage them to use running as a tool to stay healthy and promote a healthy attitude to life." Budd said she was still active and competing in her age group.
"I started running seriously at the age of 14 and I turned 45 this year, but I'm still looking forward to running."
She first made heads turn in 1983 when she clocked a remarkable time of 8:39.00 over 3000m in Durban at the age of 16. In 1984, she broke the women's 5000m world record. The International Amateur Athletics Federation refused to recognise the performance because South Africa had been banned from competing internationally before the start of the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964.
She applied for British citizenship to sidestep the boycott and officially claimed the 5000m world record while representing Britain in 1985, clocking 14:48.07.
She still holds two junior world records: the mile and the 3000m. - Sapa
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