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Team Uganda must set its eyes on doubling size at next Games
ROBERT MADOI
What you need to know:
Joyce Aciro (shot put) and Helen Alyek (discuss throw) also showed that northern Uganda can be a breeding ground for athletes to take on the mantle of field events.
The Olympics is for all intents and purposes a numbers game. Bigger is always better.
The more, the merrier. And while numbers offer no assurance that a competing nation will come through the Summer Games unscathed and, with any luck, its reputation enhanced, chasing the small comforts they offer does no appalling harm. It certainly does the ego great good.
The biggest contingent Uganda has sent to the Summer Games was at Munich 1972. Fondly remembered for the manner in which John Akii-Bua comfortably outperformed his chief rivals in the 400m finals, many know remarkably little about the fact that 32 other athletes earned the right to represent Uganda at the Games.
Or indeed that Leo Rwabwogo became the first Ugandan to podium at separate Summer Games after besting his bronze at Mexico City 1968 with silver at Munich 1972. Last night's 10,000m final afforded Joshua Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo the opportunity to write their names in the Anna’s. Uganda's, at least.
Perhaps most strikingly of all is the fact that the number mustered at Munich 1972 (i.e., 33) remains unparalleled to date. Since nearly half that tally constituted a team of hockey players, the high-water mark should—in the assessment of your humble columnist—be Los Angeles 1984. Those Summer Games saw Team Uganda qualify 26 athletes. While boxing dominated the bill, after 11 pugilists made the cut, this was as balanced a team you will ever ask for.
Two marathoners, half a dozen sprinters, one middle distance runner, two cyclists, two weightlifters, one swimmer, and one javelin thrower gave a roaring tribute to Uganda's single-minded pursuit to spread the risk. While there were no medals to write home about when the curtain came down on the Games, there was no shortage of moments that Team Uganda fans found tellingly attractive.
Top of the pile was the exploits of the men's 4 × 400 metres relay team. With John Goville its leadoff runner followed by Moses Kyeswa, Peter Rwamuhanda, and Mike Okot, in that order, the team beat the odds to reach the final where a national record was set. Each of the athletes had taken part in their respective individual sprint events prior. Only Goville made it past the heats in the 200 metres, but found the going punishingly difficult in the quarterfinals.
Enough about the past and over to the present. The team that has already opened its account at the ongoing Olympic Games in Paris has a lot to take great pride in. While not quite as balanced as the class of 1984, Team Uganda still managed to qualify a rower (Kathleen Noble) and a cyclist (Charles Kagimu) to Paris 2024.
The two are joined by 23 others who range from the odd sprinter (Tarsis Orogot), middle distance runners and long distance specialists.
While this is, by all measures, a well calibrated mix of different events, there is still work to be done. Why have we not tried to engender a culture of warming up to field events? In years gone by, Justin Arop went to great lengths to show that the javelin throw is hardly rocket science.
Joyce Aciro (shot put) and Helen Alyek (discuss throw) also showed that northern Uganda can be a breeding ground for athletes to take on the mantle of field events.
The fact that pugilists have fallen on lean times should also worry us all. Lest we forget, four of the 11 medals tucked under our belt before last night’s men 10,000m final came from the ring. Yet the wind has been taken out of Ugandan boxing's sails to the extent that not a single pugilist qualified for Paris 2024.
We should not just greet this news with horror and dismay. The work geared at righting this wrong and others should commence now. If executed with unerring accuracy, we should be in a position to field 50 athletes at Los Angeles 2028.
