SportsKenya: Road to Olympics : 1968 Mexico Games

Friday 16 March 2012

Road to Olympics : 1968 Mexico Games - Kenya sees Gold !

After participating in 3 consecutive Olympic Games, the country was slowly yearning for better achievements and for this the country's sports personalities were well rewarded. Mexico City - Mexico was also a first of many sorts and it earned a mixed bag of fortunes.

Mexico 1968 - image from www.olympics.org

Let's look at the facts and figures from the Games;

Figures & Results:

'Speed-Cop' Kipchoge Keino - image from Rich Clarkson

5556 participants from 112 countries was a marked improvement from the Tokyo Games '64;
172 events were held in 20 sports disciplines;
Kenya participated in 4 sports disciplines - Athletics, Boxing, Hockey and Shooting;
Kenya was placed 14th overall, a major improvement on the 1964 Games where she placed 35th.
Kenya won 3 Gold namely; Kipchoge Keino-1,500m (M), Naftali Temu-10,000m and Amos Biwott-3000m steeplechase (which was to become Kenya's mainstay for any major events she participated in) ; 4 Silver; Wilson Kiprugut-800m, Kipchoge Keino-5,000m , Ben Kogo-3,000m steeplechase and the 4x400m men's team ( Daniel Rudisha, Charles Asati,Naftali Bon and Munyoro Nyamau); 2 Bronze; Naftali Temu-5,000m and Philip Waruinge -Featherweight boxing;
Philip Waruinge was awarded the Val Barker Trophy for the Most Outstanding boxer 'pound-for-pound', despite winning the bronze in Featherweight. He remains the only African boxer to have won the trophy to date.
Kenya's Hockey team finished 8th overall, a drop from the 6th position from Tokyo Games;
One John Harun (Mwau) was ranked 76th in Shooting's Mixed Small -Bore Rifle, Prone 50m. (He's currently an MP in Kenya's Parliament having had an illustrious career in the Kenya Police, Interpol as well as the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission).

Interesting Facts:

As quoted in an online forum, this was the first Olympic Games to have 'first large-scale incursion of politics directly in the Olympic venues'.
Mexico was the first developing country to host the Olympics. It was also at its 'highest altitude' ever at 2,240m (7,350 ft) a.s.l.(above sea level).
Tommie Smith and John Carlos - US 200m (gold & bronze winners respectively)sprinters raised their fists clothed in black gloves during the medal awards ceremony- as a symbol of protest against human rights violation to the Black populace in United States. They also asked Australia's Peter Norman to wear a badge in solidarity with them. This cost them a life ban from any future Olympic Games or IOC-related events which was a bit too harsh if you ask me...
Also joining in political protest was one Vera Caslavska - from former state Czechoslovakia ( now Czech & Slovak Republics after fall of communism in Eastern Europe) - her silent protest during medal awards was against Soviet invasion of the state.
As noted before, Mexico City has the highest altitude ever for an Olympic event at 2,240m a.s.l - some in athletics were worried about its effects on the athletes including Kenya's own 'speed cop' Kip Keino but this turned out to a blessing in disguise with record-breaking performances from some of the other events.
Bob Beamon (US) leapt 8.90m in the men's long jump to what would be one of athletics' most enduring world records. It still is the Olympic record.

Sequence of Fosbury Flop - image from www.shorecrest.org

Dick Fosbury (US) won the high jump with the unconventional Fosbury Flop. This would eventually be adopted by most if not all high jumpers.
One Jacques Rogge (current IOC President) represented Belgium for the first in 3 Olympic Games appearances in yachting.
John S. Akhwari(Tanzania) finished the men's marathon with a dislocated knee and this became a lasting symbol of the Olympic Games spirit - quipped here saying "my country did not send me 10,000 miles just to start the race, they sent me to finish the race. He is currently an Olympic Goodwill ambassador.
Tlateloclo massacre - this happened 10 days to the opening of the Games and almost derailed the event. 44 people were killed as students and civilians rioted against 'repressive actions and blatant violation of university autonomy' by the Mexican government. A blown-up kite was flighted during the Games with the black shadow representing a 'silent protest' by the students.
Drug-testing debuted to check on performance-enhancing drugs which was becoming a thorn in the flesh for amateur sports.

All in all, the Games marked an improved performance from Kenya and many African countries as most continued enjoying their newly-found independence from their colonial masters.
The Games had now become a major political platform for many States which knew that with the world glued to the television and other media channels, it was the perfect place to send out whatever message - be it silent, symbolic or otherwise.
Commercialisation of sports was also at its formative stages and going into the 1970s, this would form the basis of future sports business for most if not all sporting disciplines and events.

Sources:
International Olympics Committee www.olympic.org
National Olympic Committee-Kenya
Britannica Encyclopedia www.britannica.com
About.com www.about.com
Wikipedia www.wikipedia.com

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Profile of a Kenyan Sports Personality

This is a look at a Kenyan personality who may have influenced and continues to affect sports in Kenya and inspires all and sundry in sports. It is our hope that you shall reflect on this, take a moment to appreciate the sacrifices and efforts these heroes made. We do take a bow and wave our hats as we cheer true Kenyan patriots in sport!

This one takes a different twist. Having seen individuals grace this column, we have sought to recognize a team of individuals who did some exemplary work and set what has been an unbeatable national and indeed continental effort.

Kenya has never been a major power in shorter races 400m downwards. Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, this was a different script especially with the more exciting relay races. It is in 1968 when Kenya’s dominance came into play and with it a retinue of athletes who would become legends of their era.

The 4x400m races are usually the climax in the athletics calendar of events and in Mexico ’68, Kenya’s team including Charles Asati, Naftali Bon, Munyoro Nyamau and Daniel Rudisha ( the latter being the father to David Rudisha - current World and African champion in 800m) had other ideas coming 2^nd to USA.

In 1972, the 4 x 400m team was tweaked a bit and the final race was run by Charles Asati, Munyoro Nyamau, Robert Ouko and Julius Sang blazing the track to come up with the only other Gold medal from the Munich Games. But for this unprecedented move and none that has been done before by any other African nation, we salute our compatriots making them the Kenyan sprint legends!

Know your Sport

Swimming

Recently at some social setting we were engaged in a club quiz and one of the questions was about swimming. This sought to know which stroke was not among the competitive ones till 1956. One of our team-mates (we were 6 said that it was back-stroke while I argued it was butterfly, and the majority thought the former ….guess we should have stuck with my answer though!)

All the same, this sport has become one of the most competitive sports in any major sporting extravaganza in the form of the All-Africa Games, Commonwealth or indeed the Olympic Games. Kenya has lately featured in this very involving and energy-sapping sport. Thanks to the exploits of the Dunford brothers who have shone the spotlight on the country away from traditional sports in athletics, football, boxing and rugby. But what do you understand from the sport? Here’s a brief of it from different sources;

According to Wikipedia, swimming is based on the human act of swimming, that is, locomotion in water by self propulsion, with the goal of completing a given distance in the shortest amount of time. Swimming is distinguished from other aquatic sports (such as diving, synchronized swimming, and water polo) that involve swimming but the goal is neither speed nor endurance.

Competitive swimming consists of four strokes: butterfly, breaststroke, freestyle (or front crawl), and backstroke. When all four strokes are done during a race, it is called medley swimming (otherwise known as the individual medley, or I.M.). It is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation Amateur (FINA).

The goal of competitive swimming is usually to have the fastest time to complete a given distance. Competitive swimming became popular in the nineteenth century. Swimming is an event at the Summer Olympic Games, where male and female athletes compete in 13 of the recognized events each. Olympic events are held in a 50 meter pool (long course).

There are 36 officially recognized individual swimming events – 18 male events and 18 female events; however the International Olympic Committee only recognizes 34 of them – 17 male and 17 female. Most swimming sport events are held in special competition swimming pools, which are either long course pools such as those used in the Olympic Games (50 m) or short course pools such as those used in the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) (25 yards or 25 m). Competition pools have starting blocks from which the competitor can dive in, and possibly also touch-sensitive pads to electronically record the swimming time of each competitor.

In most competitions, the competitors are required to wear swimwear/swimsuits to adequately cover their bodies for the dip. However some suits have created controversies which have seen FINA coming up with standards to adhere to ensure competitors do not have undue advantage over each other.

The sport can also be pursued for personal fitness and is considered by fitness enthusiasts as one of the few that does an all-round job body of keeping the body in shape. It also requires healthy diets and rehydration (yes even if your body’s dipped in water)! Famous names in the sport include Mark Spitz – 7-gold medals winner 1972 Olympics and Michael Phelps – 8 gold medals - Beijing 2008.
For more info, check www.fina.org

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Friday 16 March 2012

Road to Olympics : 1968 Mexico Games - Kenya sees Gold !

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