Zola Budd's number reappears 25 years later

On the night in the 1984 Olympics that Zola Budd ran her famous race against Mary Decker, Dave Davis of Pasadena was a track and field steward.

When Decker tripped on Budd's heel, went down in the infield (pictured above) and sprawled on the ground, writhing in pain, Davis was right there and ran across to try to help. As Olympic doctor Tony Daly attended to her, Davis helping, he noticed a piece of paper on the ground. He picked it up and put it in his pocket, not placing any significance on it in that heat of the moment.

The next day, the Los Angeles Times ran a photo by freelance photographer Hiram Clausen of Santa Barbara, showing the moment Decker started to fall. It showed her reaching toward Budd for balance and tearing the uniform number off her back.

The moment is among the more celebrated in Olympic history. Budd was an 18-year-old barefoot runner from South Africa who held numerous world records and was running for Britain because South Africa's apartheid racial policies made its athletes ineligible. Decker was the United States' darling in the middle distance races.

Neither had met before, nor raced. And in reality, neither was the favorite to win the 3,000 meters that night in the Coliseum -- favorite Maricia Puicia of Romania did win -- but the public had already made Budd and Decker into a big rivalry. So when the collision occurred and they were the two involved, it was worldwide news.

Sprinters set records running like the wind, but not with it

Sweeping UCLA in the women's 200-meter dash was a breezefor USC's Aareon Payne, Shalina Clarke, and Judith Onyepunuka. They probably wished it wasn't so easy.

Each sprinter finished faster than her own previous best, but they were aided by a 2.1 meters-per-second wind. Although the Trojans got all of the points from the event and went on to win the 2009 dual meet, the times would not officially count as their personal records. They would have been allowed if the wind was 2 meters per second.

The night before the race, the forecast called for morning rain -- which never really materialized. If you can't trust the local weatherman, how can meet officials measure wind with such precision?

A USC-UCLA Hall of Fame by any name

The preferred name probably depends on your point of view. Or alma mater.

It could be the USC-UCLA Dual Meet Hall of Fame. Or the UCLA-USC Dual Meet Hall of Fame.

Regardless, the nine athletes inducted Tuesday as the inaugural class represent some of the best athletes who have competed in one of the most heated rivalries in college sports. They were honored at a news conference at USC's Heritage Hall that also served as a kickoff for Saturday's dual meet at USC's Cromwell Field.

From UCLA: Willie Banks (triple-jump), John Brenner (shot put), WayneCollett (sprints) and Seilala Sua (shot put and discus).

From USC: Willie Deckard (sprints), Natasha Danvers (hurdles), Virginia Powell (sprints), James Sanford (sprints) and Bob Seagren (pole vault).

Longtime track promoter Don Franken said he started the hall of fame to recognize those who made their mark in the annual dual meet.

"This event has more tradition than any event like it in the country," Franken said. "So many of the people that went on to great careers were unknown until they made their mark in this meet."

-- Gary Klein

Photo: Bruin great Willie Banks speaks to a crowd of USC and UCLA athletes during the Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Credit: Kirby Lee / US Presswire.

Run, Meb, Run!

Congratulations are due to Meb Keflezighi, who won the U.S. men's cross-country title today in Derwood, Md.

Keflezighi, the Athens Olympic silver medalist in the marathon, finished the 12-kilometer course in 36 minutes 6 seconds, barely holding off Tim Nelson down the stretch.

For Keflezighi, a UCLA alum, this was his third national cross-country championship and 18th USA Track and Field title. He's planning on running the London Marathon in April.

You can find more info about his training, plans and his previous win at the Houston half-marathon at his website.

-- Helene Elliott

Meb Keflezighi wins another title

UCLA alum Meb Keflezighi, who won the marathon silver medal at the Athens Olympics but didn't make the Beijing team in the marathon or the 10,000 meters, earned his 17th U.S. title Sunday by holding on to win the USA Half Marathon championship on Sunday in Houston.

Keflezighi, who lives in San Diego and trains at Mammoth Lakes, won in 1 hour 1 minute 25 seconds. It was his first USA half marathon title and first national title since 2007. He led by 19 seconds at one point but began to feel tightness in his hamstrings, allowing Dathan Ritzenhein to cut the final margin to 10 seconds. Brett Gotcher, a former All-American at Stanford, was third in 1:02:09.

The women's race was won by Beijing Olympic marathoner Magdalena Lewy-Boulet in 1:11:47.

-- Helene Elliott

Photo: Meb Keflezighi dons the American flag after finishing second in the 2004 New York Marathon. Credit: Gregory Bull / Associated Press

How Shawn Crawford won much more than a medal

It never has been easy to know what to make of Shawn Crawford.

The guy got a reputation as a flake by racing against a giraffe and a zebra on a reality TV show. (He beat the giraffe, then lost to the zebra, but demanded another shot because the zebra had false-started. Crawford lost the rematch as well).

He ran in a Phantom of the Opera mask at an international meet in Italy. (The mask slipped, covered his eyes and led to his disqualification for running out of his lane).

He steadfastly refuses to bash his former coach, Trevor Graham, one of the most disgraced figures in the Balco doping scandal. Crawford was working under Graham when he won the 200-meter gold in the 2004 Olympics, yet the runner does not think that association casts a shadow over such achievements.

"Am I worried? No, because I don't care about somebody's reputation," Crawford told me at the 2008 U.S. Olympic trials. "He makes decisions for him, I make decisions for me. Whatever he did with anybody else, I'm not worried about it, because I know what I did. So I can't hold that against a person. People make mistakes. I didn't make those mistakes so I'm not worried about it."

You can give Crawford the prize for naivete.

Or for being loyal to a fault.

Or for stubbornness.

Or you can give him the prize a rival thinks Crawford deserves after one of the best gestures of sportsmanship I ever have heard about.

It is summed up on the home page of Churandy Martina’s website, www.churandy.com. In the lower right hand corner, Martina says: "I truly hope Crawf gets the international Fairplay award for this!"

He was talking about Crawford’s decision to give Martina, who is from the Netherlands Antilles, the Olympic silver medal the U.S. runner had won after a bizarre series of events in the 200-meter final at the 2008 Beijing Games.

Crawford can’t talk about this, said his agent, Kimberly Holland, because the race results are under appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which this week postponed a hearing on the matter to Jan. 15.

But Martina noted on the web site, "Yes!! It is true, Shawn gave me my Olympic medal back.’’ The site also has a picture of Martina wearing the medal.

It is a medal Crawford felt uncomfortable about getting within minutes after the

Wake-up Call: Usain Bolt, Tiger Woods, 3-D NFL, Jamie McCourt

First things first: Let's look at the voting in our poll from Tuesday. If Michael Phelps is SI's sportsman of the year, who would be No. 2? The winner is Jamaica's Usain Bolt. He had 16 of the 83 votes, or 19% of the balloting. Tiger Woods, who has been out of action since April, had a steady 10 votes from the start and at the end pulled out a second-place finish with 11 votes. Coming in third (and I am proud of you readers with this one) was L.A.'s own Candace Parker, who had a flurry of votes yesterday and finished with 10. Being named the WNBA's rookie of the year and most valuable player wasn't enough to beat out Tiger, which goes to prove Tiger's pull. Now, Bolt is no surprise as the winner. He proved at the Beijing Games that he is, indeed, faster than anyone on Earth. His achievements were spectacular, never mind the suspicions of steroid use that trailed his team. I loved his crowd-pleasing theatrics too. His absolute joy. But remember how IOC chief Jacques Rogge dissed Bolt for those theatrics? Rogge proved to be the fuddy-duddy everyone suspected.

3-D tonight: The San Diego Chargers host the Oakland Raiders tonight in the NFL Network game. Here is the most interesting thing about it: It is being broadcast in 3-D in a handful of movie theaters to demonstrate the technology. One is in Hollywood, by invitation only, and Diane Pucin, our media writer, will be there and will write about the experience tonight. But the Raiders are upset about the 3-D showings because the Bay Area is not one of the locations.

To give or not to give: You might have read Bill Plaschke's column last week on Frank and Jamie McCourt. And today Kurt Streeter weighs in. And T.J. Simers, of course, has another view. (P.S.: I like Jamie McCourt's style and attitude.) But enough already. I have paid a lot of money (pre-recession) to sit in Dodger Stadium and watch this team. For years. There should be room and money enough to give a lot to the community and to field a team that will make it to the playoffs. To be blunt, that's why owners are called rich. This past season was so much fun after you signed Manny Ramirez. Not before. That wasn't a fluke. Would I pay big money to watch James Loney? Uh, no. Sorry, James. And, let's not forget the McCourts brought us Andruw Jones (this past season, a .158 batting average in 75 games). Good grief. Other team owners manage to work hard for the community on many levels. It shouldn't be one side against the other. Show us greatness in charity, hope and faith ... show us greatness in Chavez Ravine. Lest we not forget, here is a clip from one of the pre-Manny games in which Andruw Jones was booed after making another out. Notice the empty seats.

-- Debbie Goffa

Top photo: Jamaica's Usain Bolt celebrates winning the gold in the men's 200-meter final at the Beijing Olympics. Credit: Thomas Kienzle / Associated Press

Inset: Candace Parker holds her trophy after being named the WNBA's most valuable player. Credit: Eric Gay / Associated Press

Lisa Guerrero: A gift for your daughters

It’s that time of year so I’ve been counting my blessings. One of them certainly has been writing this blog at the Fabulous Forum. It’s given me a voice to express my views, but also an opportunity to hear from you ... whether you agree with me on a given topic or not.

A lot of you have left your comments here on this board, but even more of you have contacted me on my website to share your feelings in greater depth.

One recent message really touched me and I thought I’d share it with you.

After reading my Oct. 3 "Father's Day" blog about Joe Biden, I received a message from a father in Seattle. His wife had died of breast cancer last March, leaving him to raise his 7-year-old daughter alone.

He, too, was moved by Biden’s performance during the vice presidential debate. After reading that I had been raised by a single dad, he wrote to ask me for advice on helping him to communicate with his daughter.

I recommended a couple of great books: "Reviving Ophelia" by Mary Pipher and "Motherless Daughters" by Hope Edelman.

He wrote back a couple of days ago to ask about Christmas gift ideas for his daughter. After much thought, I came up with a gift list for those of you with young daughters who may have expressed an interest in sports.

A good deal of research shows that girls who get involved in sports at an early age are less likely to try drugs, cigarettes and alcohol. Athletes also have a greater chance of finishing high school and are more likely to avoid teen pregnancy (a subject that "Reviving Ophelia" explores at length).

If your daughter loves movies (and who doesn’t), why not give her a collection of “girl power” DVDs to help develop her growing interest in sports?

Try these (for teens):

Gracie (2007, PG-13) -- It’s about a young girl who wants to compete with the boys on the soccer field, and is loosely based on actress Elisabeth Shue (who played on several boys’ soccer teams in New Jersey).

The Longshots (2008, PG) -- The true story of a girl who became the first female to play in a Pop Warner football tournament in its 56-year history.

Ice Castles (1978), PG) -- A teenage figure skater overcomes adversity to realize her dreams.

A League of Their Own (1992, PG) -- Madonna and Geena Davis play in a professional women’s baseball league during World War II.

The Next Karate Kid (1994, PG-13) -- Stars Hilary Swank as a troubled teenager who, through karate, copes with the loss of her parents.

For younger girls:

Quarterback Princess (1983, not rated) -- A girl quarterback, played by Helen Hunt, wins over her team and the entire town.

Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story (2005, PG) -- Dakota Fanning plays a girl who saves an injured race horse.

National Velvet (1945) -- The classic about a boy (Mickey Rooney) and a girl (Elizabeth Taylor) and a horse.

Moondance Alexander (2008, G) -- Yet another movie about a girl and a horse -– this one features an appearance by figure skater Sasha Cohen.

The Longshots (2008, PG) -- The true story about a girl who became the first female to play in a Pop Warner football tournament in its 56-year history.

These lists got me thinking about compiling a list of my Top 10 Chick Sports Flicks (for grown-up girls). Feel free to send us your ideas if I’ve left your favorite out.

Sports films about women are few and far between, unfortunately, so I’ve reached back quite a few decades to round out my list.

10. Bring It On (2000) –- I’m a sucker for cheer competitions, being a former rah-rah myself.

9. The Other Side of the Mountain (1975) –- The true story of ski champ Jill Kinmont. This cannot be viewed without a box of Kleenex. I’m warning you.

8. The Cutting Edge (1992) -- Two words for ya: Toe. Pick.

7. Wilma (1977) –- The true story of Olympic track star Wilma Rudolph. Also marks the film debut of 23-year-old Denzel Washington.

6. National Velvet (1945) -– This film won two Oscars and stars and 11-year-old Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney. Classic.

5. Bend It Like Beckham (2002) -– The reason little American girls became aware of David Beckham (and big American boys became aware of Keira Knightley).

4. Heart Like a Wheel (1983) –- Starring an amazing Bonnie Bedelia as Shirley Muldowney, the first female top-fuel drag racing champion.

3. A League of Their Own (1992) –- This classic airs this weekend on guess which network:

A. ESPN
B. Fox Sports Net
C. Oxygen

The answer is C. Duh.

2. Girlfight (2000) –- Michelle Rodriguez is slightly more intimidating in her boxing picture than I am in mine. She wins.

   

1. Million Dollar Baby (2004) –- One of the best sports films ever, regardless of gender. Won four Academy Awards, including best picture. Scoreboard, Clint Eastwood. And Morgan Freeman. And Hilary Swank…

-- Lisa Guerrero

Lisa Guerrero has covered Super Bowls, the NBA Finals and the World Series, along with the Oscars, Emmys and Grammys. As an actress, she has appeared on "Frasier" and "The George Lopez Show" and as Billy Baldwin's long-suffering wife in the film "A Plumm Summer," which she executive-produced.

Photo, left: Michelle Rodriguez in "Girlfight." Credit: Andrea Morini / Screen Gems/Sony Pictures.

Photo, right: Lisa Guerrero

It's time to give Paralympians their due

I have covered 14 Summer and Winter Olympics.

Regrettably, I never have covered a Paralympics.

Now, thanks to both NBC and Universal Sports, I am even more aware of what I have missed.

You will be too if you watch Sunday afternoon’s NBC documentary on the 2008 Paralympic Games (11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. PT), along with the 28 hours of Paralympic coverage on Universal Sports from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday through next Sunday (Nov. 16).

I have seen the NBC film, which, thankfully, avoids the trap of concentrating only on the inspirational side of these leading disabled athletes.

Paralympians want to be seen first as athletes, with as much dedication to their sport and as compelling an urge to win as able-bodied athletes.  That comes through on the NBC show when U.S. wheelchair basketball athlete Matt Scott says he doesn’t care about touring the sights of China or about how nice the Olympic Village is because, "I want a gold medal, and I want it bad."

(And wait until you see how Chinese high jumper Hou Bin, a three-time Paralympic gold medalist, lights the caldron at the opening ceremony.  It is every bit as dramatic as the high-wire act 1984 Chinese Olympic champion Li Ning performed at the Olympic opening ceremony.)

I wish NBC had avoided the cloying background music that gives the production an overall feeling of touchy-feely rather than sports.  Some of the early segments do focus more on the disability than the athletes’ achievements.  And there is no attempt at explaining the numbering of events, a complicated system that has caused controversy because critics within the Paralympic movement feel there are too many categories and too many medals.

But the emphasis changes as the 90 minutes progress.  By the end, you find yourself eagerly anticipating the race or game in which the athletes profiled are competing.

You likely will cry when you watch some of the segments, but not merely because it is moving to see these Paralympians overcome adversity. You will cry because you share their joy at having hard work and athletic ability result in Paralympic medals or, in the case of the

Track boss Diack pulls no punches, smacks IOC prexy

 

In the oh-so-politic world of Olympic governance, rarely do you find a major sports leader with the courage to call out another major sports leader.

But that is what happened today, when international track federation President Lamine Diack of Senegal flat-out blasted International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge of Belgium.

Diack called out Rogge on his criticism of Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt for celebrating the first of his three gold medals with a little crowd-delighting theatrics. Then he blasted Rogge's apparent willingness to let London's Olympic organizers renege on their promise to turn a scaled-down version of their 2012 Olympic Stadium into a medium-sized (about 20,000 seats) facility for track and field.

Diack is justifiably upset that Rogge is dissing his sport, which (despite its doping scandals) is the most important in the Olympics to much of the world, especially the developing world.  Diack also took a swipe at swimming, with its ridiculous world-record rush as a consequence of high-tech suits, by noting that a world record in track and field "does still mean something.''

"I think this shows a lack of respect for my sport,'' Diack said in a statement issued today.

As my blog entry during the Olympics on the Rogge-Bolt matter indicates, I am utterly in agreement with Diack that the IOC president's criticism of Bolt was unjustified.  I felt it smacked of old colonial attitudes toward "the natives."

In his  press release today, Diack said:

Like many people, I was surprised, and said so at the time, to hear Mr. Rogge imply that Usain Bolt was showboating and showing a lack of respect for his rivals after his phenomenal world record in the 100-meter final.

We live in a time when Olympic sports are struggling to remain attractive to young people, when we all need to make sport exciting and relevant to them. Since we need to create HEROES that young people identify with, why criticize the behaviour of a young man who is INSTANTLY and completely appealing to young people?

Usain’s three gold medals and world records, in a sport where a world record does still mean something, and his exuberance and uninhibited pleasure in victory, helped Usain transcend sport and become, during the Games, a truly global icon and a genuine role model for youngsters who may not find Olympic sport that exciting.

Diack also took issue with Rogge's recent comments to the BBC about London's Olympic Stadium, in which the IOC president said it was more important to avoid white elephants than to keep the track.  Remarkably, Rogge cited Atlanta's 1996 Olympic Stadium (from which the track was