John Akii-Bua
John Akii-Bua, December 3, 1949 - June, 1997, is a Ugandan Olympic champion who won the 400m hurdles at the Munich Olympic games in 1972. As of 2008, he remains the only Olympic gold medal winner from that nation.
Akii-bua was one of the 43 children sired by his father, a prominent chief from the Lango tribe of northern Uganda who had eight wives. He had a comfortable upbringing, but no one could have expected him to reach international stardom in track and field competition. [1]
Akii-Bua came to the 1972 Olympics as a competitor in the 400m hurdles, having come 4th at the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. It was his only prior international experience in an international competition, and as he had finished well behind the medalists. In Munich the favoured athletes included David Hemery of Britain, the world record-holder and defending Olympic champion and Ralph Mann, an American. To the surprise of almost everyone he won the race a full six metres ahead of Mann, breaking the world record and becoming the first to break 48 seconds. This was an astounding achievement given he had drawn lane one in the final, considered a disadvantage due to the tighter turns.[2] Someone handed him a Ugandan flag, and in his excitement he ran around the track with it; starting a "victory lap" tradition which continues to the present. [3]
Today, at least one school and one street are named for Akii-Bua. His name has entered the local parlance; in Ugandan English “to Akii-Bua” means to hurry or to run fast (“I was late, so I Akii-Bua’d”).
References
- ↑ Although most sources give 42 siblings, Akii-Bua’s father is sometimes stated to have 50 children born to nine different wives
- ↑ Video of the Munich final, commentator David Coleman
- ↑ It was a memorable moment; years later American sportscaster Jim McKay (ABC) asked who would ever forget John Akii-Bua taking his country's flag and running around the track with it.