Tamara and Irana Press, two sisters, won five track and field Olympic gold medals for the Soviet Union and set 26 world records in Rome (1960) and Tokyo (1964). They were a formidable duo who won almost everything that there was to win. However, after gender verification for all international sporting events was made compulsory in 1968, both women vanished from the sporting stage. It was said of both sisters that their gender could not be determined. Some thought they might be hermaphrodites; another opinion was that they were being injected with male hormones in order to make them stronger. The tabloids called them the "Press Brothers."

South African-born runner Zola Budd was a revelation when she came to the sport. As a teenager, she twice broke the world record in the women's 5,000 meters, and twice was the women's winner at the World Cross Country Championships. The most extraordinary aspect of her running was that she always trained and raced barefoot. However, while representing Great Britain at the 1984 Games, Budd collided with U.S. contender Mary Decker during the women's 3000 meter track final. The American stumbled and fell onto the infield, unable to continue. The partisan crowd began jeering at Budd, who was leading at the time. She reacted by falling back to a 7th-place finish.