High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Zola Pieterse, better known by her maiden name of Zola Budd (born 26 May 1966 in Bloemfontein, Orange Free State, South Africa), is a former Olympic track and field competitor who, in less than three years, twice broke the world record in the women's 5000 metres and twice was the women's winner at the World Cross Country Championships. Budd's career was unusual in that she mainly trained and raced barefoot. Her achievements on the track were often overshadowed by the political controversy she aroused during her short stay in the United Kingdom.