$130,000 Fee Given Budd for Race Is Assailed

A fee of $130,000, which Zola Budd was paid for one race during the recent track and field season, was condemned Thursday in a fierce attack on the image of British sport.

Ron Pickering, a television commentator and sports consultant, told the annual conference of the Central Council of Physical Recreation: “The ethics of sport are being sacrificed on the altar of profit.”

Commenting on the huge fee that Budd collected for her Olympic rematch against Mary Decker Slaney at Crystal Palace in London last summer, Pickering said: “I have the greatest respect for Zola Budd’s ability as a runner.

“But she was paid 90,000 pounds simply to appear in a totally predictable race in which there was only going to be one winner. If she runs badly to finish fourth for that kind of money, what are Steve Cram, Seb Coe, Steve Ovett and Daley Thompson going to ask for next year?

He added: “The sheer hypocrisy and double standards are beginning to make the days of amateurism pure and honorable.”