African Hall of Fame

by Daniel Brown

Article published on the 2008-08-11 Latest update 2008-08-12 11:24 TU

(Photo: D Brown)

Exactly 38 years ago the Ethiopian marathon runner Abebe Bikila won Africa’s first ever gold medal in the Olympic Games. Bikila began a glittering athletics tradition of African world beaters. In April 2008, the continent’s top sporting authorities inaugurated an “African Hall of Fame” to honour these sporting achievements. Daniel Brown went to Addis Ababa to follow the gala event.

Bikila’s remarkable victory in the marathon in 1960 was all the more symbolic because it occurred in Rome a quarter of a century after Mussolini invaded Ethiopia. Almost four decades later, Bikila’s gold was the cornerstone of a gala launching of an African Hall of Fame for athletics. The continent’s greatest-ever athletes flowed into Addis’ Sheraton Hotel on April 29 to be inducted into this Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, Bikila died tragically nine years after winning his second Olympic gold. But his son Yetnayet Abebe Bikila was there to accept a prize on his behalf.

75 African sportsmen were rewarded by the organisers, the Confederation of African Athletes (CAA), five posthumously. 44 former and current stars of track and field turned up for the evening. They were of all generations, from the Tunisian 5000 metre champion Mohammed Gammoudi to 26-year-old South African high jumper Jacques Freitag.

The idea of the continent’s athletes being role-models for African society was amplified by the attendance of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Despite strong international criticism of his own tenure in office, the regime’s strongman saluted the example given by the sportsmen present.

“You the athletes have made it when Africa as a whole has failed,” he declared during the gala. Damning words from Zenawi who also believed recognition of their deeds was long in coming. He said, “I very much hope that you will not be alone in shouldering the burden of keeping Africa’s flag flying.”

The evening was not all pomp and ceremony, however. Most of the athletes came from Kenya and Ethiopia who secured 34 and 13 of the awards, respectively. None seemed more proud then Kipchoge Keino. The double-Olympic champion believed the Hall of Fame was a stepping-stone for the future. Keino’s two sons are also athletes, but they have not yet attained the remarkable standards their father set in the 60s.

Of the 75 athletes honoured in Addis, 19 were women. One, the Cameroonian Françoise Mpango, is hoping to bag a second gold in Beijing after her stunning win in the triple jump at the Athens Olympics. No woman athlete deserved a more rousing accolade during the induction ceremony than Maria Mutola. The Mozambiquan 800 metre runner took eleven world titles between 1993 and 2006. Though Mutola admits she is past her peak now, she will still be fighting it out in Beijing - before finally retiring. Mutola has also helped build an artificial track on the sports ground in Maputo where she used to train as a fifteen-year old.

The inductions into the Hall of Fame were not just monopolised by the likes of Kenya, Ethiopia and Morocco. Smaller sporting nations like Namibia and Somalia have also had their moments of athletic glory in the past half-century. Present in Addis, for example, was Frankie Fredericks, the eternal runner-up with seven silvers but also of course, one gold, at the 1993 world Championships in Stuttgart. That was in the 200 metres.

Somali Abdi Bile was also present in the Ethiopian capital. He took gold in the 1987 World Championships in the 1,500 metres. Since retiring, Bile has travelled the world to inspire many young athletes, just like the  runner who used to be his childhood hero, Miruts Yifter. In 1980, the Ethiopian long-distance runner took two golds at the Moscow Olympics. Yifter was also present at the gala. If fact, most of Africa’s greats responded to the invitation with the notable exception of Hisham El Guerrouj, who, with Haile Gebrselassie, is the continent’s best all-time athlete. The two are the only Africans to hold two Olympic titles and be four-time world champions.