Word: akii
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DIED. JOHN AKII-BUA, 47, Uganda's gold-medal-winning Olympic hurdler who, for all his leggy might, could not scale the obstacles erected by Idi Amin's brutal regime; of undisclosed causes; in Kampala, Uganda. At Munich in 1972, Akii-Bua dashed to a record-breaking finish and joyously leaped over the hurdles a second time. He was later barred from international competition by the government and driven into exile...
...gold medal running the 400-meter hurdles in a record 47.82 sec. at the Munich Olympics in '72. But that didn't matter in the hallucinogenic country that Uganda became under Idi Amin. For three years John Akii-bua, 29, was forbidden to leave the country again to participate in international meets. When the ban was finally lifted last summer in a typically perverse Amin decision, Wife Joyce and Akii-bua's three children were forced to remain in Kampala as hostages against his return. When Amin finally fell, the family escaped to West Germany. In friendlier...
...learned of their government's "withdraw immediately" decision that morning. By week's end 25 countries represented by 697 athletes were out of the Games. Gone with them were such potential gold-medal winners as Track Stars Mike Boit of Kenya, Miruts Yifter of Ethiopia and John Akii-Bua of Uganda. Gone too was any hope that such prestige races as the 800 and 1,500 meters could have the stature of world-championship events...
Bayi is not the first East African to run into the record books. Kenyan Kip Keino won the 1,500-meter gold medal in the 1968 Olympics, Fellow Countryman Ben Jipcho is history's second fastest miler, and Ugandan John Akii-bua holds the world record in the 400-meter hurdles. Now a veritable army of runners from East Africa is readying for the Montreal Olympics next year...
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