John akii bua biography of william hill

At the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, a then unknown 23-year-old Ugandan athlete, John Akii-Bua, surprised the world by becoming the first man to run the 400m hurdles in under 48 seconds. In the process, he beat the much-fancied David Emery of Britain, the then Olympic champion, into third place. But it was not all sweetness from then on. The vicissitudes of Akii-Bua’s life have been captured in a documentary film shown recently in Uganda.

In a gripping tale about his life and sporting achievements, Uganda’s greatest athlete, John Akii-Bua recalls in his unpublished memoirs a sleepless night before his historic 1972 Munich Olympics triumph in the 400m hurdles, haunted by visions of the then defending Olympic champion and record holder, Britain’s David Hemery, winning.

Akii-Bua reveals in his handwritten notes upon which a 90-minute documentary film entitled, “The John Akii-Bua Story: An African Tragedy” is based, that on the night before his Olympic victory, he drank a wh

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Racing Past

Where footsteps Led to Cheptegei. In Search of Uganda’s First Distance-runners of Note

 

The successes of Ugandan distance-runners in recent years, culminating in Joshua Cheptegei’s World records at 5000 and 10,000 metres, caused me to wonder who were the pioneers in that country in these events. Inevitably, a first thought that came to mind was concerned with the influence of the highly esteemed Malcolm Arnold, who went to Uganda from Britain as Director of Coaching from 1968 to 1972 and famously discovered John Akii-Bua, winner of Olympic and Commonwealth titles and World record-breaker at 400 metres hurdles in those years. Arnold also guided the careers of Judith Ayaa and Silver Ayoo, bronze and silver (aptly enough!) medallists for 400 metres at the Commonwealth Games of 1970 and 1974 respectively. 

A report in the issue of the British magazine, “Athletics Weekly”, for 6 September 1969 is excitedly headlined “Ugandan At

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"I remember my father bringing home sweets. There weren't enough for everyone. He set up competitions, races over different distances. We ran in groups the same age. I don't think I ever won. I had to beg sweets from my brothers.

John Akii-Bua, talking about his childhood for Sports Illustrated (5)

         John Akii-Bua’s achievements were and still are a milestone in African history of track and field. He won the only Olympic gold medal for ever in the sport, in 1972, and the only one the black continent has achieved in a single event shorter than the . He was the first man who dipped under 48 seconds at the hurdles distance at that classic Olympic final, becoming a reference and inspiration for every African or Afro-American athlete to follow, starting by the greatest, the invincible Edwin Moses, and including the current record holder in the continent, Zambian Samuel Matete. He was also the inventor of the now-indispensable lap o