John Akii-Bua
Olympic champion
1949 – 1997
Uganda's first Olympic champion: gold and a world record in the 400 m hurdles at Munich in 1972.
Scan of a 1973/74 “Campioni dello Sport” sticker card, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). Public domain, author unknown. Photo page and licence
John Akii-Bua was born in Lira on 3 December 1949. A gifted all-round athlete, he set a Ugandan decathlon record in 1971 before concentrating on the 400 metres hurdles.
Munich, 1972
At the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich he won the 400 m hurdles from lane 1, in a world-record 47.82 seconds, the first man ever to run the event in under 48 seconds and the first Ugandan Olympic champion. In 1973 he added gold at the All-Africa Games in Lagos.
Interrupted career, enduring fame
- He missed the 1976 Montreal Games when many African nations boycotted.
- He left Uganda during the turmoil of 1979, lived in Kenya and Germany, represented Uganda at the 1980 Moscow Olympics and returned home permanently in 1983.
- In 1986 he received the Silver Olympic Order.
He died in Kampala on 20 June 1997, aged 47, and was given a state funeral. Akii Bua Stadium in Lira bears his name, and his Munich run is still celebrated as one of the great moments in Ugandan sport.
Read and watch more
- Wikipedia John Akii-Bua · Wikipedia
- Record John Akii-Bua: results and biography · Olympedia
- Article Uganda to remember Olympic hurdler John Akii Bua · World Athletics
- Documentary The John Akii-Bua Story: An African Tragedy · BBC Two
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