JohnAkiiBua of Uganda and Edwin Moses of USA are rated as the best ever in the 400 mts hurdles.
JohnAkiiBua was the first to run the event in under 48 seconds and it was a pity that AkiiBua and Moses never got to fight it out against each other in an Olympic final.
AkiiBua used to train while wearing a jacket weighed down with about 12 kilos weights and run almost as much as any long distance runner.
Masscom Online(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
JohnAkiiBua was among the very few Ugandan sports men whose reputation preceded them wherever they went.
AkiiBua triumphs were not to be realised instantly as he found himself coming 4th in the Commonwealth games of 1970 with a decent time of 51.1 seconds.
It was in the unenvied lane 1 from which AkiiBua triumphed ahead of the favourite two breaking the world record which was standing at 49.0 seconds and setting his 47.87seconds.
In 1969, Hemery won a silver at the European Championships in 110 m hurdles, but missed the next European Championships in 1971 due the injury.
At the 1972 Summer Olympics, Hemery tried to defend his title, but failed, finishing third after John Akii-Bua from Uganda and Ralph Mann from United States.
He was also a member of silver winning British 4x400 m relay team.
en.wikipedia.org /wiki/David_Hemery (305 words)
CONK! Encyclopedia: John_Tewksbury(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
John Walter Beardsley Tewksbury (March 21, 1876-April 25, 1968) was an American track and field athlete.
At the 1900 Summer Olympics, he won 5 five medals, of which two gold.
His brave front-running style, in which he tried to run the legs of his Kenyan and Ethiopian opponents, earned much respect and he was a popular winner of the bronze medal in the junior race at Leopardstown racecourse.
Kiprop was born at high altitude in the small market town on Kapchorwa on Mount Elgon just a few miles from the Kenyan border with his four sisters and three brothers and fondly recalls his first memories of running.
Yet much of Uganda’s athletics heritage is based on the achievements of sprinters and hurdlers — notably 1972 Olympic 400m hurdles John Akii-Bua (who died in 1997) and 1996 Olympic 400m bronze medallist Davis Kamoga.
Akii-Bua, John - Profiles(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
John Akii-Bua was the first man to run under 48 seconds in the 400 meter hurdles, running 47.82 to win the gold medal in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games.
He died at 47 years old after a long illness, but his name lives on in development funds that bear his name.
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African nations refused to compete after having unsuccessfully demanded the expulsion of New Zealand because their rugby team had toured racially-segregated South Africa.
Outstanding on the track were Finnish policeman Lasse Viren, who repeated his 1972 Olympic double with gold in the 5,000 and 10,000 metres, and classy Cuban Alberto Juantorena, who became the first man in 70 years to win both the 400 and 800 metres titles.
Fellow American John Naber, who had twice broken the 100 backstroke world record, also achieved a landmark time when he dipped below two minutes to win the 200 backstroke and claim his fourth gold.
The New Vision Online : Tears Of Joy(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
It was the first time Uganda’s national anthem was being played at an international athletics event since John Akii-Bua’s victory in the 400m hurdles in 1972.
The last gold medal was in 1972 (JohnAkiiBua in Munich)” she told international pressmen who had flocked her asking many questions earlier.
After winning on Monday and going through a doping check, Inzikuru was chauffeured with Boniface Kiprop, who finished fourth in the 10000m, and UAF secretary Beatrice Ayikoru to Crowne Plaza Hotel where Italian athletics officials hosted a reception for them.
The Olympics in Montreal is Edwin Moses' first test on the international scene.
The hurdler who would have been his toughest competition, world record holder John Akii-Bua of Uganda, isn't in the field because of an African boycott of the Olympics.
After getting off to a slow start in today's final, Moses kicks it into another gear down the back straight, passing the Soviet Union's Yevgeny Gavrilenko.
