Mary Decker - Career

Career

In her early teens, Decker was already recognized as a world-class runner. Unable to attend the 1972 Olympics as she was too young, the pigtailed 89 pounds (40 kg) 14 year old nicknamed "Little Mary Decker," won international acclaim in 1973 with a win in the 800 meters at a US-Soviet meet in Minsk, beating the later Olympic silver medallist.

By the end of 1972, Decker was ranked first in the United States and fourth in the world in the 800 meters. In 1973 she gained her first world record, running an indoor mile in 4:40.1. By 1974, Decker was the world record holder at 2:26.7 for 1000 meters, 2:02.4 for 880 yards, and 2:01.8 for 800 meters.

But by the end of 1974, she had developed a case of the muscle condition compartment syndrome. This resulted in a series of injuries, which meant that she did not compete in the 1976 Olympics, because of stress fractures in her lower leg. In 1978 she had an operation to try to cure compartment syndrome, which kept her out of competition for a period. After recovering from surgery, she spent two seasons at the University of Colorado at Boulder on a track scholarship.In 1979, she became the second American woman to break the 4:30 mile in American record time. In 1980, she broke the world record for the women's mile, running a 4:17.55 to become the first woman to break the 4:20 barrier for the mile.