Deon Potgieter traces the history of the All Africa Games
As South Africa bids to become the first African country to host the soccer World Cup, the continent will be the master of ceremonies to the last, multiple sporting event to be staged anywhere in the world this millennium.
It’s been a long, hard task but with South Africa’s hosting of the seventh All Africa Games, that start this Friday, Africa can truly claim that it has arrived as a continent to be reckoned with in the world’s sports arena.
Throughout his life, Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern-day Olympics, believed firmly in helping Africa to develop a physical culture and sport. At the 22nd International Olympic Committee session in Rome in 1927, he argued it was perfectly feasible to organise an African Sports Games which would also help promote the continent. Although he never lived to see his dream realised, his vision contributed to igniting the spark that led to the first All Africa Games held in Brazzaville in July 1965.
Only 30 countries participated in 10 disciplines that year, but the games proved successful in laying the foundation for future events. Ahmed Djalil, a 20-year-old cyclist from Algeria, became the competition’s first champion by winning the 143km road race from Brazzaville to Kinkala and back.
It was at these games that athletes from Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya gave notice to the rest of the world that they were laying claim to the middle- and long-distance running events. In particular, Kipchoge Keino and Wilson Kiprugut, with four golds between them, signalled Kenya’s impending supremacy on the track.
Egypt ran out winners of the first games by winning a total of 18 gold, 10 silver and three bronze medals. Nigeria followed with nine gold, six silver and five bronze.
Bearing in mind that at the time Congo had less than one million people and Brazzaville itself only 150 000 citizens, it truly was a remarkable achievement for the country to host an event of this stature and to perform the task so well.
For the second All Africa Games in 1969, Bamako, the capital of Mali, was chosen as host. But a new military power took control of the country and declined to carry on with the games’ organisation, citing financial difficulties. Nigeria, who at that stage had already been awarded the third games, was approached to host the second instead.
Although they accepted, due to difficulties resulting from the end of the Biafran war, there was a delay while proper facilities were built. A spectacular 70 000-capacity national stadium was built in Lagos, modelled on the Munich Olympic stadium and costing $20-million to build. Thirty six countries took part when the games were eventually held in January 1973.
A clear indication that the standard of the competition was rising in Africa was reflected in the fact that all the records set at the previous games were broken. The Kenyan Benjamin Jipcho also equalled the world record in the 3 000m steeplechase. Egypt and Nigeria again filled the two top positions on the medal table, followed by Kenya.
The third All Africa Games, held in Algiers, were originally scheduled to take place in 1977, but were postponed by a year due to technical difficulties. This time participating countries increased to 38. Tunisia ran out overall medal winners followed by Nigeria and host nation Algeria.
Emphasising the fact that few countries in Africa were capable of hosting an event the size of the All Africa Games, no country volunteered to host the fourth games due to be held in 1982. Kenya was approached as a possible host and agreed to stage the games, but could not confirm a date.
As it had insufficient sports facilities, the Kenyan government struck a joint venture deal with the People’s Republic of China, which resulted in the new 60 000 capacity Moi International Sports Complex being built in Kasarani on the outskirts of Nairobi. Existing sports facilities were also upgraded and with the stage set the fourth All Africa Games took place in August 1987.
Senegal’s Amadou Dia Ba shone at these games setting a new All Africa record in the 400m hurdles. He followed this up with a sterling performance at the Olympic Games in Seoul the following year, narrowly missing gold by four hundredths of a second. Rugby made its Pan African debut at the 1987 games and was featured as a demonstration sport. Egypt took first place, Nigeria again ended second and previous winners Tunisia came third.
Cairo attracted a record number of 43 countries, including the newly independent Namibia, to the next games which were held in 1991. With the rise of professionalism and prize money in sport, many top athletes failed to appear, but crowds were not disappointed as the likes of Namibia’s sprint sensation Frankie Fredericks, Mozambique’s Maria Mutola, Nigerian Fatima Yusuf and Kenya’s Moses Kiptanui came to the fore. The hosts Egypt continued their winning ways by ending top of the medal table. Nigeria was again second, followed by Algeria.
Egypt’s reign of supremacy came to an end at the sixth All Africa Games held in Harare in 1995. These were the first games in which South Africa took part. A fierce rivalry ensued, with South Africa narrowly beating Egypt into second place on the medal table, winning 62 gold, 51 silver and 38 bronze, compared to Egypt’s 59 gold, 41 silver and 49 bronze. Nigeria now fell to third place.
The seventh All Africa Games will feature 52 countries and promises to be the largest event of this nature ever staged on the African continent. The eyes of the world will be upon us, not only to size up the competition for next year’s Olympic Games in Sydney, but also to determine South Africa’s ability to host an event of this magnitude. Any failure could rule out South Africa’s chances out of hosting an Olympic Games in the near future. Likewise, if successful, it could enhance the possibility.