Introduction
The capacity of 34,000 spectators (a total of two days was 52,000) at the Wallace Wade Stadium of Duke University in Durham in North Carolina, who attended the track and field meeting between the United States and Africa (sometimes referred to as to the United States vs. the World match), was later the largest to attend an athletics competition in the southern (southeastern) region of the United States. The meeting on July 16-17, 1971 was the first international competition in the area. A unified African team alongside other nations (14 nations in total) versus a USA team was a unique and unprecedented event. Spectators became the largest and most jubilant track audience in 1971. The 38 selected African athletes included Olympic legends Charles Asati, Mohamed Gamoudi, Kipchoge Keino and Amos Biwott.
John Akii-Bua
In the 400 meter hurdles, the results were: John Akii-Bua, Uganda (49.0); Melvin Bassett, local Durham resident (50.7); William Koskei, Kenya (51.2); Ron Rondeau, Miami, FL (52.9).
William “Bill” Koskei, who as an immigrant had previously competed for Uganda and won the silver medal for Uganda on the intermediate hurdles at the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, returned to Kenya shortly after the tumultuous coup in Idi Amin in January 1971. An injured Akii-Bua who had finished fourth at the same Commonwealth headquarters, now in Durham proved to be the best 400mh athlete in Africa. Akii-Bua, by cutting a full second from Africa’s record and setting a world leading time of the year, also astonishingly surpassed runner-up Rondeau by nearly two seconds! And all this in high summer temperatures (80 degrees Fahrenheit above 90 degrees Fahrenheit), high humidity, and on a recently repaved track. After Africans won five gold medals on the track at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico, rumors and suspicions arose that Africans benefited from the high-altitude conditions they were supposedly used to. But the Durham meeting in a low-altitude environment showed that weather conditions were not important factors for African athletes to triumph against those of other nations.
Eventually, the promising 20-year-old John Akii-Bua from Uganda became the only African to set a significant record in the match and, after the 400-meter hurdles victory, even considered enrolling at North Carolina Central University, where maybe I would. working with renowned black American track coach Leroy T. Walker and also promoting his athletic ambitions at Wallace Wade Stadium. Akii was an anomaly in the sense that he was a short-distance runner among the overwhelmingly middle- and long-distance African athletes in the match. He got recognition.
“Akii-Buwa [sic], a Ugandan policeman, set an African record of 49.0 by winning the second gold medal for African men. His time was also the best mark in the world this year, and after seeing his impeccable hurdles form, American and African track officials predicted that he will be a strong contender for a gold medal in Munich next year. “(Associated Press: 1971).
But such encouraging comments about Akii-Bua’s victory in this technical event that he rarely associated with Africans on an international scale were rare, with the mainstream media concentrating on Africa’s prowess at medium and long distances. Turning a blind eye and making Akii-Bua’s performance seem less meaningful was the notable absence of competition from American champion Ralph Mann (another Olympic medal prospect) who would have deftly challenged Akii-Bua. Mann was competing in Europe.
Kipchoge Keino and other results
Media accolades bypassed Akii-Bua, praising Kenyan victors and legends Kipchoge Keino, Robert Ouko and Ben Jipcho; and on the Ethiopian long-distance runner Miruts Yifter, who had won the 10,000m, but had come off the 5000m at the end of the penultimate lap while leading, thinking it was the last lap. The tiny 10,000 meter wide 5’2 “Yifter finished in 28: 53.1, followed by Florida Track Club’s Frank Shorter (28: 53.9), third was Gary Bjorklund (30: 05.3) of Minnesota, and fourth was Wahib Nasrech. from Ethiopia (30: 34,3).
In the 1500m, Kenya’s Kipchoge Keino, trying to break the world record (with the help of the Kenyan 800m runner Naftali Bon running like a driving rabbit), took almost a quarter of a turn away from the main pursuers, winning in 3: 37.5, ahead of runner-up and compatriot Benjamin Wabura Jipcho (3: 43.9) who had won the 3,000-meter steeplechase just an hour earlier. Third in the 1500m was Jim Crawford (3: 48.0) of the US Army, fourth was John Baker (3: 55.2) of Sports International. African 3000m steeplechase record holder Jipcho had won in 8: 45.2, twenty meters ahead of Oregon Track Club’s Mike Manley (8: 48.3), Ohio’s Sid Sink (9: 00.2) came third and Muhammad Yohanes (9: 06.2) from Ethiopia. .
In the 800 meters, Kenyan Robert Ouko won 1: 46.7, one meter ahead of Juris Luzins of the US Marines; with Ken Swenson (US record holder) of the US Army in third place. Ouko would enroll at North Carolina Central University, be trained by the legendary African American Leroy T. Walker, who became the first black man to coach a U.S. men’s Olympic track team and serve as president of the United States Olympic Committee. Walker died in Durham in April 2012 at the age of 93. At the 1972 Olympics, Robert Ouko would be fourth in the 800 meters and would be part of the 4×400 meter Olympic gold medal winning team in Kenya. Julius Sang, also part of Kenya’s gold-winning team, also signed up for NCCU along with Ouko.
Other notable winners in the match were American John Smith (Southern California Striders), who cut both the 200m (20.7) and 400m (45.7); Rayleane Boyle (23.1) of Australia in the 200 meters ahead of runner-up and African legend Alice Annum (23.2) of Ghana.
Overall, the US men’s team beat the visiting teams 111-78, and the US women won with ease overwhelmingly.
Cited works
Associated Press. “Closing of the Pan-African Games”, in “The Robesonian” (July 18, 1971).