It's not often an athlete turns down the chance to take part in the Olympics – but Paul Fudge insists she is more than content with her Commonwealth Games gold.
The Bedfont-born distance runner scorched to victory by almost eight seconds in the 3,000m final in Edmonton, Canada, in 1978, beating New Zealand's Heather Thompson into second place and her own twin sister, Ann Ford, into third.
Unfortunately, she never got to display her talents on the biggest stage of all, but has no regrets about turning down the chance to take part in the marathon at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
Fudge told Get West London: “I was told I had to do a particular race to qualify, which I did, but someone else was selected instead. Then someone dropped out and I was invited to take their place, but I turned it down. It would have meant spending three weeks away from my daughter, who was only four at the time.
“I had won the World Championships in Rome the previous year, and with my Commonwealth Games medal and world record too, I was satisfied with my lot. I have no regrets. I always found the Olympics too political as well.”
That world record was set in September 1981, at a time when female distance running was quite rare. Fudge was invited to a race in Norway where Greta Waitz was hoping to set the inaugural record in the women's 5,000m.
Instead, it was Fudge who took the honours, and her time of 15.14.51 still stands at number 11 on the all-time UK women's list for the distance.
She said: “The accepted view at the time was that women couldn't cope with long distance running, but attitudes were slowly starting to change. I hadn't trained for the 5,000m, it wasn't on my agenda, but I set the first officially ratified time for a woman over the distance and held the world record for five months. The women's 5,000m really took off after that.”
At the time of her Commonwealth gold, Fudge ran for the Borough of Hounslow AC, which met at the now-decrepit Feltham Arenas, the club eventually being swallowed up into the Berkshire-based Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow (WSEH) AC in 2001.
She said: “Hounslow was a great little club, we had internationals right through in most events. It was awful to lose the old banner, but I guess that's progress, and membership had been right down.
“Feltham Arenas had gone to pot too. You would get people doing drugs under the covers for the poles and vaults. On the up side, Mo Farah was also coming through as a youngster at the time, and it was a shame he left for another club.”
Although Fudge now restricts her running to the weekly 5k Frimley Lodge Parkrun, near where she now lives in Surrey, athletics still runs right through her family, just as it did when her and Ann were both competing at the top table.
Her youngest daughter, Abi, still runs for WSEH, and her husband, Bob, is a physio for the club. Her sister also married into the sport, coupling up with two-time Olympian and former leading GB endurance runner Bernie Ford.
But what does she remember of her Commonwealth Games experience? Probably a vastly different one from that which today's athletes will find awaiting them in Glasgow.
She added: “It was all very relaxed. We were pretty much left to our own devices. We could do what we wanted and eat what we wanted, there was no routine. But this was a time when we were not paid and I had to take time off work as a typist to compete, and had to train before and after work.
“I was confident of getting a medal as I knew what I could do, and the Kenyans were only just starting to come through. Ann was actually the faster runner and I expected her to win, but she had a back injury. Still, gold and bronze isn't bad for twin sisters.
“I still have the video, and in the last 600m I broke away, and took over the New Zealand girl with 400m left. David Coleman was saying I had gone too soon and had made a mistake, and that I should have know better as an experienced athlete. But if only he knew what was going through my mind – I was so focused on winning that gold that I just went for it.”
Sadly, 62 year old Fudge suffered an aneurysm last year, as did her twin sister, but is recovering well.
