{"id":2512,"date":"2021-01-21T11:52:41","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T11:52:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/?p=2512"},"modified":"2021-01-21T12:09:47","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T12:09:47","slug":"the-great-sacrifice-part-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/2021\/01\/21\/the-great-sacrifice-part-one\/","title":{"rendered":"The Great Sacrifice (Part One)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (July 31st<\/sup> 2020)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Appreciation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI need to pass my humble acknowledgement to Filbert Bayi for what he has done for South Africa,\u201d Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane said in his appreciation of Bayi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor him to sacrifice to go to the Olympics while he was the current World Record holder and did that on behalf of the support of South Africa to be changed to where it is and his contribution and his message make so much contribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLook at the country we have at the moment \u2013 everything has changed and it\u2019s through messages and sacrifices like people like him to sacrifice \u2026 and a lot of the world has also done that, but we don\u2019t forget our African brother, our Tanzanian brother for the support that he\u2019s given. We still salute.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what is Mosimane talking about?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Greatest Final that Never Took Place<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Filbert Bayi is without doubt the greatest athlete Tanzania ever produced. He was their best hope of an Olympic gold medal in 1976. Why? Two years earlier Bayi stunned the athletics world, not because he won, but the manner of his win. He changed the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He not only won gold in the Commonwealth Games in the backyard of his greatest rival, New Zealand\u2019s John Walker, but did it leading from start to finish and shaving a second from the World Record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bayi and John Walker broke the previous World Record in that 1500m run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That race also produced the fourth, fifth and seventh fastest times in the history of 1500m running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kenyan Ben Jipcho was only denied the third best time by the previous World Record of the USA\u2019s Jim Ryun. Naturally, that Commonwealth Games 1500m final left the athletics world stunned but salivating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Montreal\u2019s 1500m would be mouth-watering \u2013 it should have been the best 1500m race of all time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Sad Reality<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Forty-four years ago today an Olympic 1500m Final \u2013 an all-white race, which was astonishing even then \u2013 elicited very different memories for the men who should have made it one of the greatest races ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two years earlier a 20-year-old Bayi had announced his arrival on the international stage in style. The Olympic Games of Montreal should or at least could have been the crowning moment of Bayi\u2019s illustrious career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But politics and human rights intervened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have mixed feelings about it,\u201d Bayi told me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like many he was disgusted by the violence of the Apartheid State towards black people in the Soweto Uprising, especially the slaughter of children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bayi wanted to help. He had trained hard. He was one of, if not the top athlete at his distance in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Tanzania\u2019s Champion<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It was not only his best chance of Olympic gold, but his country\u2019s too. Tanzania has never won an Olympic gold medal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it was Tanzania that led the boycott of Montreal\u2019s Olympic Games, costing both the nation and Bayi their best chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four years later another boycott worked in Bayi\u2019s favour \u2013 this one had nothing to do with sport. It was a protest against the invasion of Afghanistan led by the USA and supported by its political allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bayi won silver in the 3000m \u2013 he was still a great athlete, but not the athlete he was in the mid-1970s. The late Bronislaw Malinowski pipped him at the finish to take gold for Poland in the 3000m steeplechase in 1980.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A year before his magnificent triumph in the 1500m in Christchurch\u2019s Commonwealth Games, Bayi gave Africa notice of his immense talent. He won the 1500m at Lagos\u2019 All-Africa Games by more than two seconds \u2013 Kenyan great Kipchoge Keino won silver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1975 he broke Jim Ryun\u2019s World Record for the mile, although Walker broke his mark within weeks, becoming the first to dip under 3 minutes 50 seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, Bayi posed a big threat to Walker, as did other African athletes. Bayi retained his All-Africa title in Algiers five years later, beating Kenya\u2019s Wilson Waigwa into second place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

African Icon<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Former World 400m hurdles champion (1991) and 1996 Olympics silver medallist, Zambia\u2019s greatest athlete, Samuel Matete, acknowledges Bayi\u2019s great contribution to athletics and his continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFilbert Bayi inspired all of us in Africa for what he did in track and field,\u201d Matete said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe sacrificed for his country, Tanzania, to be one of the best Africa has ever produced in the Mile and 1500m.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matete also highlighted the price Bayi paid in 1976.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe boycott was done in good faith by member countries, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDefinitely, this denied an opportunity for Bayi to collect another medal.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (July 31st 2020) Appreciation \u201cI need to pass my humble acknowledgement to Filbert Bayi for what he has done for [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2517,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,14,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2512"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2512"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2513,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2512\/revisions\/2513"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}