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Outlook: The Olympic fall that changed our lives

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Zola Budd and Mary Decker at the 1984 Olympics (Getty Images)

28/07/2016 GMT

The Olympic fall that changed our lives

BBC World Service - Outlook, The Olympic fall that changed our lives

Zola Budd and Mary Decker ran a race for glory that ended in disaster

An Olympic race for glory that ended in disaster, a brass band that overcame adversity and an unlikely friendship between a man and a penguin.

Zola Budd and Mary Decker raced one of the most highly contested and controversial races in the history of athletics, but it ended in disaster. It was the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and the race had garnered huge attention in the media, with the world's focus on the two runners with record potential. Zola was a shy and naive 18-year-old girl from a farm in South Africa, competing amidst massive controversy for Great Britain. Mary was 26, an all-American girl and favourite for the Gold medal. Three laps before the end of the race, Mary fell and was left weeping in agony on the infield as the crowd booed Zola Budd. But did Mary fall or was she tripped? The controversy echoed around the world, but now the two runners are reunited.

Bennie Pete is the founder and bandleader of The Hot 8 Brass Band, a New Orleans group carrying on a musical tradition that began in the 19th Century. The band started out playing for change on street corners and at friends' funerals, mixing hip-hop, jazz and funk styles with traditional New Orleans brass sounds. They have endured terrible tragedy, having lost three of their members to gun violence, as well as having their home city destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. The band stayed intact, and they have gone on to support Lauryn Hill and featured in Spike Lee's film about Hurricane Katrina. 

When Tom Michell came across a penguin caught in an oil spill in Uruguay in the 1970s, he decided to rescue it, clean it and release it back into the wild. But the penguin had no intention of leaving, and Tom ended up adopting it and smuggling it back to his home in Argentina.  

(Photo: Zola Budd and Mary Decker at the 1984 Olympics. Credit: Getty Images)

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