As the Uganda Athletics lines up the first major events in celebration of 100 years, its President Dominic Otucet labelled his body the number one sport.
For the Federation that came into existence in 1925 as the Uganda Native Athletics Association, and year in year out, Athletics has raised the best performances for Uganda on the international scene.
Having John Akii Bua as the first gold medalist for Uganda, joining Ethiopian Abebe Bikila as the first Africans to win gold medals at the Olympics.
Athletes have gone on to win four more Olympic gold medals despite the one for Akii Bua remaining the most iconic memory for Ugandans.
In total, Uganda only has five gold medals from the Olympic games, and all were won by Athletics, a sport which incubates all other sports disciplines, as Uganda Athletics President Dominic Otucet explains.
“We are the number one sport in Uganda, it is true that Athletics is the mother of other sports, every sport starts with Athletics and many kids of Athletics are always choosing different sports,” Otuchet said in a press conference.
“Performance-wise, Athletics is also the only sport to ever win a gold at the most prestigious games, the Olympics.”
From Akii Bua’s gold at the Munich Games in 1972, the next gold medal was scooped by Stephen Kiprotich in 2012 at the London event, then followed by the double won at Tokyo 2020 by Joshua Cheptegei and Peruth Chemutai, while the most recent came in 2024, won by Cheptegei.
Out of the 13 Olympic medals, Athletics has won 9, including two Silver and two Bronze, as the other remaining Olympic medals came from Boxing, a sport which won the first ever Olympic medal, a silver won by Eridadi Mukwanga and a bronze won by Leo Lwabwogo at USA 1968.
With the Akii Bua Memorial Meet set for Saturday, June 7th, the State Minister for Sport will grace the event along with parliamentary relay teams for males and females.
The Bronze Athletics Event will also attract Athletics Presidents from African countries as the competition is going on for Elite athletes, Cooperates, Local Athletes and kids from 7 am to 6 pm.
