title : FILBERT BAYI: TANZANIA'S GREATEST- EVER ATHLETE WHO BROKE TWO WORLD RECORDS!!!
kiungo : FILBERT BAYI: TANZANIA'S GREATEST- EVER ATHLETE WHO BROKE TWO WORLD RECORDS!!!
FILBERT BAYI: TANZANIA'S GREATEST- EVER ATHLETE WHO BROKE TWO WORLD RECORDS!!!
"Mh. Rais MAGUFULI anasisitiza sana uzalendo. Mtanzania aliyefanya jambo la kishujaa na kizalendo lazma atajwe ili wananchi wamjue na wampongeze. Ndege ya Dreamliner 787-7 ilipopokelewa, waandishi waliandika kuhusu ndege hiyo tu bila kumtaja na kuandika historia ya Mzalendo, kijana wa Kinyakyusa, GEORGE JONAS, aliyeileta. Hii si sawa. Wazalendo hawa na historia zao lazma zijulikane....:"
PROF. P. KABUDI, Dodoma 30.8.2018.
1. Introduction
Over the years, TZ has produced many good athletes. However, the greatest of them all is none other than FILBERT SANKA BAYI who, in spectacular and eye-catching ways, broke two World Records in 1974 and 1975! .
2. Birth, Early Days & Education:
FILBERT SANKA BAYI was born on 23.6.1953 in a small village of Karatu within sight of Mt Kilimanjaro. His parents were farmers-cum-cow herders hence when he was a kid, he used to take care of the goats and cows.
In 1961, at the age of 6, BAYI started school whose location was 2 miles away from where his family lived. Every morning he had to run to school, then he had to go back for lunch and then he had to return to school for the afternoon classes. So, as a young boy, he was running about 8 miles a day and that built a lot of stamina in his body.
Throughout his years at school, BAYI continued to excel as an athlete immersing himself in competitions and working his way up to district and regional competitions.
3. Leaving Karatu for Dsm
BAYI left school in 1970 at age 17 and migrated to Dsm. While in Dsm, his running training was unique and very crude. In the crowded, high-humidity capital, he would pick up and sprint alongside a moving bus and rest when the bus was loading and unloading passengers. This was his daily routine in the morning and evening!.
4. National & International competitions:
In 1971, BAYI achieved a reasonably good personal best of 3:52:12 In the 1500 M.
BAYI competed in the annual East and Central African championships held in Dsm, TZ. On 3.12.1972, BAYI became a regional champion in the 1500 M. He won in an impressive time of 3:38:9, setting a new national record. He also beat his idol, the great Kenyan, Kip Keino.
5. BAYI's World Record in 1974
In 1974, the Commonwealth games were held in Christchurch, New Zealand. 21 year old BAYI, an athlete with an "Afro-hairstyle" and boyish looks, would compete in the 1500 M. BAYI, together with other Tanzanian athletes, left the country quietly. There was hardly any fanfare.!
The 1974 finals of the 1500 M at the Commonwealth games will loom in the minds of may truck enthusiasts for a very long time.
The date was February 2, 1974 and the stage was the men's 1500 M final. The home crowd, at the top of their voices, roared on their great hero, long-haired JOHN WALKER.
When all the competing athletes knelt down waiting for the starting pistol to be fired to start the race, the 21 year old Masai-boy from Karatu, Bongoland, alijifanya kama anajikuna vile and then he led from the start and continued at a blistering pace throughout the race to cross the finish line FIRST in a race that is often described as "the greatest middle distance event of all time". BAYI set a new world record of 3:32:16 smashing the previous world record set by JIM RYUN in 1967 in the US. The great JOHN WALKER came second.
What a sweet win for Tanzania! It was a glorious moment for our dear motherland, with one of our own putting us on the world map!.
Consequently, a huge crowd turned out at the DSM International airport, on 6.2.1974, to give BAYI, their triumphant hero, a deserved rousing welcome back!.
It would take 5 more years for Great Britain's SEBASTIAN COE to break the record. Today, 45 years on, BAYI's phenomenal performance remains a Commonwealth record!.
6. BAYI's World Record in 1975:
After setting a new world record in the 1500 M in 1974, BAYI was not done yet as he set another new world record a year later.
On Saturday night, in Kingston, Jamaica on 17.5.1975, leading, as usual, from start to finish, BAYI broke the world record in the Mile run! Two Villanova greats namely MARTY LIQUORI and EAMMON COUGHLIN, took turns chasing BAYI only to finish second and third respectively.
This was a world record performance that defied logic, a set of stopwatch numbers that hardly seemed real. Yet it stood there; irrefutable: a 3:51 Mile run by BAYI breaking JIM RYUN's 8 year world record of 3:51:1.
BAYI did it despite a 23- hour plane trip from Bongo to Jamaica via Rome, London, Montreal and New York which landed him in Kingston, Jamaica just 48 hours before the race!.
7. Life after retirement:
BAYI is now the Secretary General of the Tanzania Olyimpic Committee.
On the other hand, the beginning of the new century witnessed retired Major BAYI and his wife commendably setting up a foundation "FILBERT BAYI FOUNDATION" intended to tap and develop athletic and educational youngsters.
BAYI opened the first iteration of FILBERT BAYI SCHOOL in a garage with just 7 children in attendance. It then developed into a large campus catering to thousands of students from nursery level up through primary school and into secondary school.
BAYI's complex lies in Mkuza, 50 miles from Dsm.
8. What Next?
BAYI now intends to have a university.
More importantly, it is now 44 years since BAYI broke the Mile world record. Why can't we produce other BAYIs? Sadly, this is a jinx which, it seems, will take a miracle to break. There is a plethora of crippling challenges, from poor organization to poor funding, which bedevil any effort to MAke TAnzania Great Again (MATAGA) in this field!
In my view, as a country, we need to have a wholesome sports development agenda for the country where athletics and other games are nurtured for good health, money and the glory of our nation.
KUDOS FILBERT SANKA BAYI- TANZANIA'S MOST DECORATED ATHLETE!
Hivyo makala FILBERT BAYI: TANZANIA'S GREATEST- EVER ATHLETE WHO BROKE TWO WORLD RECORDS!!!
yaani makala yote FILBERT BAYI: TANZANIA'S GREATEST- EVER ATHLETE WHO BROKE TWO WORLD RECORDS!!! Wakati huu, pengine unaweza kutoa faida na wewe wote. Sawa, kuona katika post nyingine makala.
Wewe ni sasa kusoma makala FILBERT BAYI: TANZANIA'S GREATEST- EVER ATHLETE WHO BROKE TWO WORLD RECORDS!!! mahali kiungo https://wordmaelezo.blogspot.com/2019/01/filbert-bayi-tanzanias-greatest-ever.html
0 Response to "FILBERT BAYI: TANZANIA'S GREATEST- EVER ATHLETE WHO BROKE TWO WORLD RECORDS!!!"
Post a Comment