In late August 1972, Ugandan middle-distance champion and steeplechase runner Vitus Ashaba, 29, flew to Munich with the crop of Ugandan athletes and boxers to represent the nation at the German Olympics. Also signed up to compete in both the 1,500m and 3,000m hurdles were Kenyan legend Hezekiah Kipchoge Keino, and then-unknown future Tanzanian legend Filbert Bayi Sanka. One of the most anticipated 1500m Olympic doubles would be that of “Kip” Keino and America’s top high school and national sprinter James “Jim” Ryun, who held the world record.

Four years earlier, at the high-altitude, hot Olympics in Mexico City, a somewhat sickly and tired but unintimidated Keino had persevered and used team tactics against doctor’s advice with training partner Benjamin Wabura Jipcho. to initially tire out his fellow competitors and then finally run away to win the 1500m gold in Olympic record time (3:34.91). It became too late for eventual silver medalist Ryun (3:37.89) to catch up, and at the finish line he fell 20 meters behind Keino.

A 50th anniversary milestone was recently celebrated as Jim Ryun reflected on the national high school record of 3:58.3 in the mile he set on May 15, 1965, at the Kansas State High School Meet in the Cessna Stadium of the Wichita State University. It was also a new Kansas state record. Also, the 3:58.3 remains the record for a one-mile race that included only high school students. Previously, in 1964, Ryun, in his third year, still at East High School, had become the first national high school student to break the 4 minute: 3:59 barrier. And further still, in San Diego, at the American Open Championships in early June 1965, the 18-year-old Ryun, still in high school, set a new American record (3:55.3) by shocking the world by beating the New Zealand legend and triple Olympic gold medalist Peter Snell. As a national high school record, the 3:55.3 would stand for nearly four decades until Virginian Alan Webb’s 3:53.43 on May 27, 2001 at the Oregon Prefontaine Classic in Eugene. Ryun started taking competitive athletics seriously just a couple of years before he began setting the many middle-distance records that would include world records set in 1967 in the 1500 m (3:33.1; Compton-Los Angeles) and the mile. (3:51:1; Bakersfield, CA). Ryun as a youngster had been shunned by junior basketball, baseball, and even track teams. But devout Ryun had faith in the church and in God, and he humbly prayed for fruition in life. Jim Ryun’s shoulders were broad and bony, his knees were long and bony, all in a lanky 6’2″, 165-pound frame. Perhaps his biggest drawback was his vulnerability to attacks from disease and physical injury. At the Games 1968 Olympics when he was 21. Old Ryun lost to 28-year-old Kip Keino, who had recently suffered a mild bout of mono that had put him in doubt as to whether he would compete in Mexico City.

Relatively lanky Ugandan Vitus Ashaba (5’8″, 130Ib) was fielded to run the Olympic Games 3000 meter steeplechase in Heat, one of four first round preliminary heats on September 1, 1972. This The first round also included both Africans, 32. Kip Keino, 19, and Filbert Bayi, 19, who would also compete in the 1500m. Tapio Kantanen, 23, of Finland, won (8:24.8). in a new Olympic record Keino finished second (8:27.6), along with 24 Japan’s Takaharu Koyama (8:29.8), also qualified for the next round, which would be the final, but Bayi, who finished ninth (8: 41.4) and Ashaba, 10th (8:45.0) did not advance to the final, both times were Tanzanian and Ugandan national records. And the 8:45.0 would forever be Ashaba’s personal best. It would be more intriguing than in the fourth series on the same day, Kenya’s Amos Biwott, who had won Olympic gold four years earlier in Mexico City, would win and reduce the Olympic record to 8:23.73 within a cou full of hours. On September 7, Kipchoge Keino, running in an event he had rarely competed in, would surprisingly win Olympic gold in the steeplechase in a new Olympic record (8:23.64). This was his second simultaneous Olympic gold with Olympic records! Kipchoge had initially planned to compete in both the 1,500 and 5,000 meters, but the 1972 Olympic calendar would have made this very difficult. Furthermore, only Julio Faustino Quevedo Elias, 32, from Guatemala, only a couple of months older than Keino, was older than him among the male steeplechase competitors at the Munich Olympics. Filbert Bayi Sanka, who would beat Keino in the 1500m at the Pan African Games held in Lagos in January 1973, was the youngest among the 1972 Olympic runners. Second in the final was legendary Kenyan Ben Jipcho (8:24.62 ), and the bronze medalist was Finn Tapio Kantanen (8:24.66).

Ashaba expected better results in the 1500m. Here, there would be a first round of qualifiers on September 8, the qualifiers would advance to the two semifinal qualifiers held on September 9; and the finals would be on September 10. The first round consisted of seven heats in which the top finishers in each heat, along with the next two fastest overall, would proceed to the semi-finals. Ashaba was placed in the Heat Four, which included Keino and Ryun. This would turn out to be the fastest heat between the preliminary rounds. The race started and, as always, Ryun bided his time to expect an outburst near the end of the race. But it wasn’t going to be. About a lap before the end of the race, an accident occurred between Ashaba, Ryun, and Ghanaian William “Billy” Fordjour who were running very close (Associated Press 1972). Ashaba’s heel was cut by Ryun, who ended up colliding and falling with the Ghanaian. Ashaba got away, albeit slower. It is not clear who caused the accident, but it appears to have been an accidental collision between runners in close proximity. Many blame Ryun for the accident. Ryun blamed Ashaba. It was too late for Ryun to catch up with him in such a short run. Keino won (3:39.97) and alongside New Zealand’s Rod Dixon (3:40.03), Sweden’s Gunnar Ekman (3:40.40), East Germany’s Klaus-Peter Justus (3:40.44), and Sweden’s Gianni Del Buono ( 3:40.78) were the semifinalists of the Heat Four. Ashaba was eighth, but still managed to set his personal best and a new Ugandan national record: 3:45.2. Ryun finished ninth (3:51.5) and Fordjour last (4:08:2). Keino comforted his archenemy. Ryun blamed Ashaba for the accident and asked for his reinstatement. His appeal did not come true, and that ended Ryun’s career in the Olympics. As for Vitus Ashaba, the world of international sport would remember him mainly for the accident with Jim Ryun.

Keino would go on to the semifinal round which included three heats on September 9. He won in the second heat. Heat One had been won by his compatriot Mike Boit. On September 10, in the final, Keino was overtaken and eclipsed near the end of the race by Finn Pekka Vasala, who won gold (3:36.33). Disappointed, Keino was second (3:36.81), Rod Dixon won bronze (3:37.46), and the legendary 23-year-old Michael Kipsubut “Mike” Boit, who had won the 800m Olympic bronze on September 2, was fourth. (3:38.41).

Not much was known about Vitus Ashaba after the 1972 Olympics. He died in 1985, in his early forties, and was survived by his widow Joy Namata and five children: Dorothy Nshemereirwe, Gerald Mugume, Julius Barinjura, Humphrey Tumushabe and Chris Tunanukye. . Ashaba was buried in his ancestral home in Kyegwisha village in Uganda’s Ibanda district.

Works Cited

Associated Press. “Accident Ends Ryun’s Bid,” in “Spokane Daily Chronicle” (September 8, 1972).