Was Akhwari swindled out of cash award?

Arusha. He left for the Mexico Olympics in high spirits of winning the first ever medal for Tanzania, which was taking part in the Olympics for the second time after independence.

Having been the most outstanding marathon runner in the country prior to the 1968 Games, he was confident of competing against the sturdy Kenyan athletes who were yet to make an impact in such competitions.

After the starter pistol, he hit the ground running in the 42 kilometre race that normally takes place after world-class track and field events climax. He was doing well.

Nonetheless, half-way the race in the high altitude Mexican terrain, he fell badly, wounding his knee and dislocated that joint plus his shoulder, which was hit hard against the pavement.

However, the then 30-year-old John Stephen Akhwari picked courage, walked up, continued running bare-footed, finishing last among 57 competitors, out of 75 who had started the race.

The winner was Mamo Wolde of Ethiopia who clocked 2:20:26 hours while the athlete born in Mbulu highlands in 1938 finished in 3:25:27. Now 48 years after the Mexico Olympics, which once again boosted Africa’s performance after spectacular sprints by Kipchoge Keino and Naftali Termu of Kenya, Akhwari has revealed why he was still a pauper.

He alleged before the deputy minister for Information, Culture, Arts and Sports Ms Anastazia Wambura in Babati over the weekend that he was swindled out of $ 1,000 which was awarded to him for his Mexico sprint. The money, according to him, was awarded to him in Mexico City for running barefoot and finishing the tortuous marathon race. However, he further narrated, the money was handled over to the government officials on promise that it would be saved in the bank.

But the 78-year-old former athlete said efforts to track down the cash have not been successful and that during the 1970s, he approached senior government officials without any success in retrieving it.

“At one time, I approached the then Major General Mirisho Sarakikya (now General) when he was minister in charge of Sports”, he told the deputy minister who was visiting Manyara region, which until very recently produced the famous long-distance runners for the country.

He added that at one time, he was told his cash award was at the central bank, but he had not traced it. He said the money could have been pocketed by some smart people in the government.

The deputy minister promised to find out what went wrong with the cash which, she said, would assist the old man who has developed dislocations in his leg after the Mexico Olympics. He is currently living in Mbulu.

The Manyara regional commissioner Joel Bendera decried what happened to Akhwari, saying many other local sports men and women as well as musicians and artists may have suffered the same fate.