1973 All-Africa Games

II All-Africa Games
Host city Lagos, Nigeria
Opening ceremony 7 January
Closing ceremony 18 January
Officially opened by Yakubu Gowon
Main venue National Stadium
<  Brazzaville 1965 Algiers 1978  >

The 2nd All-Africa Games were played from January 7, 1973 to January 18, 1973 in Lagos, Nigeria.

After the success of the first African Games, the organizing bodies awarded the second games to Bamako, Mali to be held in 1969. A military coup disrupted the plans and the organizers moved the games to Lagos, Nigeria to be held in 1971. The games were postponed once again and finally opened in January 1973. A torch was lit in Brazzaville a week before the games and transported to Lagos as a symbol of the continuity of the games.

Security again was very tight at the games. This time in response to the massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games just four short months before.

Sports heroes from around the world including Abebe Bikila, Pelé, Muhammad Ali, and Jesse Owens were invited to attend the opening ceremonies.

Ben Jipcho, Kenya's 3000 meter silver medalist at the Munich Olympics, tied the world record in the steeplechase with a run of 8:20.8. Tanzania's newcomer Filbert Bayi stunned the veteran favorite Kip Keino in the 1500 meters in 3:37.18.

African nations continued to put pressure on South Africa which was not invited to participate due to their apartheid policies.

At the closing ceremonies the torch was passed to Algiers, Algeria to begin preparations for the IIIrd All-African Games in 1978.

Medal table

      Host nation

Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 Egypt 25161556
2 Nigeria 18252063
3 Kenya 991836
4 Uganda 86620
5 Ghana 771327
6 Tunisia 46313
7 Algeria 451322
8 Ethiopia 43613
9 Senegal 42612
10 Ivory Coast 2046
11 Morocco 1337
12 Sudan 1113
13 Guinea 1102
 Mali 1102
 Tanzania 1102
16 Zambia 1067
17 Somalia 1001
18 Madagascar 0235
19 Cameroon 0134
 Congo 0134
21 Gambia 0101
 Niger 0101
23 Dahomey 0011
 Swaziland 0011
 Togo 0011
Total 9292126310

Athletics

Only one athlete defended his title from the 1965 Games, namely Malian discus thrower Namakoro Niaré. Three athletes, one male and two female, won more than one event:

Several women's events was added. These were 200 metres, 400 metres, 800 metres, 1500 metres, discus throw, shot put and 4 x 400 metres relay.

Soccer

The soccer tournament was won by the host country Nigeria.

Gold: Silver: Bronze:
Nigeria Nigeria

Coach:

Guinea Guinea

Coach:

Egypt Republic of Egypt

Coach:

External links

References

  1. 1 2 All-Africa Games
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, February 14, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.