By Miguel Suleyman, The Citizen Reporter
Kibaha. Construction work of an ultra modern sports arena at Mkuza, Kibaha in Coast region has finally started as Filbert Bayi School’s endeavour to turn it into a word class sports academy.

The first of its kind in Tanzania, the sports arena, according to the project’s chief, Filbert Bayi, a former athletic legend, once completed will enable the complex to host basketball, handball, lawn tennis, netball, volleyball and badminton.

Currently, the country has one national indoor stadium in Dar es Salaam, which is now in bad shape to host major events. But there are other several scattered indoor stadiums like that of Upanga’s Don Bosco Youth Centre and others to mention but a few.

“It is destined to serve as a court-complex to enable hosting all major indoor games,” said Bayi, also one of the only two Olympic medalists.

‘’Civil works have been started and it will be constructed on the courts that previously served as netball and basketball courts,” he said.

Construction of indoor stadium at Filbert Bayi School was still going on at steady pace when The Citizen visited the area over the weekend when the school hosted a sports bonanza for the teachers, workers and their family to compete in different sporting events like football, cycling , sack race, tug-of-war, volleyball, netball and dancing.

“We see the importance of having an ultra modern indoor stadium that will comfortably host more than 1,000 spectators”, said Bayi, who is also the Tanzania Olympic Committee (TOC) secretary general.

The bonanza saw Kibaha’s Filbert Bayi School teachers dominate all sporting events against their counterparts of Kimara schools.

Forexample, in volleyball, Kibaha school staff beat their Kimara counterparts by two straight sets , while in football, Kimara also lost 6-0won by two Besides, the indoor stadium, plans are also underway to construct an Olympic-standard swimming facility at the same area, according to Bayi.

However, Bayi said the construction of a swimming pool will take time to start since it is needs better long planning.
Speaking during his school’s Parents Day celebration, Bayi said after the indoor stadium, his immediate project will be the construction of running tracks that will enable his academy groom athletes of his status.

“I want to produce the future 800m, 1500m and 3000m steeplechase stars since they have for a long time remained untapped,” he said. 

Born on June 23, 1953, Bayi is a legendary middle-distance runner of the 1970s and 1980s who set the world records for 1500 metres in 1974 and the mile in 1975. He is still the 1500 m Commonwealth Games record holder.

Born in Arusha, Tanzania, his greatest moment was arguably the 1500m  final at the 1974 Commonwealth Games held in Christchurch, New Zealand, when he won the gold medal ahead of New Zealand runner John Walker and Kenyan Ben Jipcho.

Bayi set a new world record of 3 min 32.16 s, ratified by the IAAF as 3:32.2, and Walker went under the old world record set by Jim Ryun as well.

Third place Jipcho, fourth place Rod Dixon, and fifth place Graham Crouch also ran the fourth, fifth, and seventh fastest 1500 m times to that date.

It is still classed as one of the greatest 1500 m races of all time. There was no jockeying for position in the race; Bayi led from the beginning in a fast pace and was 20 metres ahead at 800 metres, the other runners strung out in a line behind him.

In 1975, Bayi broke Ryun’s eight-year-old mile record by clocking 3:51.0 in Kingston, Jamaica on 17 May. The record was short-lived as Walker became history’s first sub-3:50 miler on 12 August of the same year, running 3:49.4 at Gothenburg.

It was hoped the Bayi-Walker clash would continue but, because Tanzania boycotted the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, it never materialised. However, since Bayi was suffering from a bout of malaria shortly before the Olympics, he may not have been able to challenge Walker even had there been no boycott.

Bayi won a silver medal in the 3000 m steeplechase at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. He ran 8:12.5 behind Bronisław Malinowski.

He won 1500 race at the 1973 All-Africa Games, leaving the famous Kipchoge Keino to silver. Bayi successfully defended his title in the 1978 All-Africa Games

After retirement Bayi has spent much effort in setting up the Filbert Bayi Foundation which aims to guide young sporting talent in Tanzania. It is based in Mkuza, about 50 km from Dar es Salaam. The complex also aims to educate young people about HIV and AIDS, plus ways of getting out of poverty.

 The foundation started in 2003. Bayi has also opened a Primary and Nursery school based in Kimara, as well as the Secondary school which is based in Kibaha.

The schools have been partnered with Barlby High School as part of the Dreams and Teams project set up by the British Council/Youth Sport Trust. The school hosted students from Barlby High School in January and February 2008.

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