John Akii-Bua

John Akii-Bua (born December 3, 1949 in Lira , † June 20, 1997 in Kampala ) was a Ugandan athlete . Akii-Bua was in the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich , the 400-meter hurdles of the men in the world record time of 47.82 seconds and won the first Ugandans at the Olympic Games.

Career

In 1970 Akii-Bua was fourth in the 400 meter hurdles in 51.14 s at the British Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh .

At the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, he won the men's 400-meter hurdles in a new world record time of 47.82 s. This made him the first athlete to cover the distance in less than 48 seconds. Ralph Mann from the United States, who was favored as the world's best of the year, came second, more than half a second behind , and the British world record holder and 1968 Olympic champion David Hemery came third .

1973 Akii-Bua won the Africa Games .

However, the regime of dictator Idi Amin paid no respect to the exceptional athlete, but tried to conceal the success of the popular athlete; Akii-Bua was even given house arrest. The background was that the Muslim president had Christians murdered and Akii-Bua was a Christian. At the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal he could not start because all African countries boycotted the games. Akii-Bua was subsequently imprisoned. Only at the 1978 African Games, where he won silver, was he allowed to start abroad. During the turmoil that followed Amin's fall, he fled to Nairobi , where he was initially interned by the Kenyan government. Then he came to Germany, the site of his greatest success, and competed for Uganda at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. He was eliminated from the 400 meter hurdles in 51.10 seconds. He also did not reach the final in the 4 x 400 meter relay .

At the end of June 1997 Akii-Bua, meanwhile widowed and father of eleven, was admitted to the Mulago Hospital in Kampala with severe abdominal pain , where he died a little later, presumably of stomach cancer . A state funeral was prepared for him in his homeland.

Others

It was not until 40 years later that Stephen Kiprotich won the second Olympic gold medal for Uganda at the marathon of the 2012 Olympic Games in London .

Top performances

• 400 meters: 45.82 s (1976)
• 400 meter hurdles: 47.82 s (1972, world record)
• Decathlon: 6933 points (1971)

Web links

• Portrait at munzinger.de

literature

• Peter Matthews (ed): Athletics 1998 , Surbiton 1998 ISBN 1-899807-03-9 (obituary)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Athletics: Completely Changed . In: Der Spiegel . No. 22 , 1979, pp. 1974 ( online ).
2. ↑ Jonathan Musere: The John Akii Bua Story: An African Tragedy . In: SpeedEndurance.com. November 7, 2014