In late August 1972, 29-year-old Ugandan middle distance champion and steeplechase Vitus Ashaba flew to Munich with the crop of Ugandan athletes and boxers to represent the nation at the Olympic Games in Germany. Also registered to compete in both the 1500m and 3000m hurdles were the legendary Kenyan Ezekiah Kipchoge Keino, and the then unknown future Tanzanian legend Filbert Bayi Sanka. One of the most anticipated 1500m Olympic duals would be between “Kip” Keino and America’s best national and high school middle distance runner, James “Jim” Ryun, who held the world record.
Four years earlier, at the Olympic Games in Mexico City in high altitude and heat, a somewhat sickly and tired but not intimidated Keino had persevered against the doctor’s advice and used team tactics with his training partner Benjamin Wabura. Jipcho to tire out his fellow competitors initially and then finally. flee to win the gold of the 1,500 meters in an Olympic record time (3: 34.91). He turned too late for eventual silver medalist Ryun (3: 37.89) to catch up, and at the finish line he was 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 at Cessna Stadium in LA. Wichita State University. It was also a new Kansas state record. Additionally, the 3: 58.3 remains the record in a one-mile race that included only high school students. In early 1964, Ryun, as a junior, still at East High School, had become the first national high school student to break the 4: 3:59 minute barrier. And furthermore, in San Diego at the United States Open Championships in early June 1965, Ryun, 18, still in high school, set a new American record (3: 55.3) when he shocked the world by holding off the legend of New Zealand and the treble. Peter Snell, Olympic gold medalist. As a national high school record, 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 began to get serious about competitive athletics just a couple of years before beginning to set the many middle distance records that would include world records set in 1967 in the 1500m (3: 33.1; Compton-Los Angeles) and the mile (3 : 51: 1; Bakersfield, CA). Ryun as a young man had been rejected by youth basketball, baseball, and even track and field teams. But the devout Ryun had faith in the church and in God, and he humbly prayed for the fruition in life. Jim Ryun’s shoulders were broad and bony, his knees were long and bony, all on a lanky 165-pound frame. Perhaps its biggest drawback was its vulnerability to bouts of illness and physical injury. At the 1968 Olympics when I was 21 years old. Ryun lost to 28-year-old Kip Keino, who had recently suffered a mild attack of mononucleosis that had put a question mark on whether he would compete in Mexico City.
The relatively lanky Ugandan Vitus Ashaba (5’8 “, 130Ib) positioned himself to run the Olympics 3000-meter steeplechase in Heat One of the four preliminary heats of the first round on September 1, 1972. This first round also included both 32-year-old Africans. 19-year-old Kip Keino and Filbert Bayi who would also compete in the 1500m. 23-year-old Tapio Kantanen of Finland won (8: 24.8) in a new Olympic record. Keino finished second ( 8: 27,6), along with 24 one-year-old Takaharu Koyama of Japan (8: 29.8), also qualified for the next round which would be the finals. But although Bayi, who finished ninth (8: 41.4) and Ashaba , who finished 10th (8: 45.0), would not advance to the final, both times were national records for Tanzania and Uganda. And 8: 45.0 would forever be Ashaba’s personal best. It would be more intriguing than in the fourth round of the same day, Amos Biwott of Kenya, who had won Olympic gold four years earlier It is in Mexico City, he would win and reduce the Olympic record to 8: 23.73 within a couple of hours. On September 7, Kipchoge Keino, racing in an event in which he had rarely competed, would surprisingly win Olympic gold in the steeplechase with 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 1500s and 5000s, but the 1972 Olympic calendar would have made it very difficult. Furthermore, only 32-year-old Julio Faustino Quevedo Elias from Guatemala, just a couple of months older than Keino, was older than him among male competitors in the obstacle course of the Munich Olympics. Filbert Bayi Sanka, who would defeat Keino in the 1500m at the African Games in Lagos in January 1973, was the youngest among the 1972 Olympic runners. Second in the final was the legendary Kenyan Ben Jipcho (8: 24.62 ), and the bronze medalist was the Finn Tapio Kantanen (8: 24.66).
Ashaba expected better results in the 1500m. Here, there would be a first round of playoffs on September 8, the qualifiers would advance to the two semifinal playoffs held on September 9; and the final would be on September 10. The First Round consisted of seven heats in which the top finishers in each series, along with the next two fastest overall, would advance to the semifinals. 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 usual, Ryun took advantage of the opportune moment to wait for an outburst near the end of the race. But it wasn’t going to be. About one 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 healing was cut off 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 closely spaced runners. Many blame Ryun for the accident. Ryun blamed Ashaba. It was too late for Ryun to catch up on such a short run. Keino won (3: 39.97), and alongside Rod Dixon from New Zealand (3: 40.03), Gunnar Ekman from Sweden (3: 40.40), Klaus-Peter Justus from East Germany (3: 40.44) and Gianni Del Buono from Sweden (3: 40.78) were the semi-finalists 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 consoled his arch enemy. Ryun blamed Ashaba for the accident and called for her reinstatement. His appeal failed to bear fruit, 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 advance to the semifinal round that included three qualifiers on September 9. He won in the second round. The Heat One had been won by his compatriot Mike Boit. On September 10, in the final, Keino was overtaken and overshadowed 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 the bronze (3: 37.46) and the legendary 23-year-old Michael Kipsubut “Mike” Boit, who had won the Olympic bronze in the 800 meters 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, survived by the 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 the village of Kyegwisha in the Ibanda district of Uganda.
Cited works
Associated Press. “Accident ends Ryun Bid”, in “Spokane Daily Chronicle” (September 8, 1972).