Today John Aki-Bua came to mind. Certain people come to mind when Goa engulfs my mind--a certain way. Many years ago I met Dave Hemery (bronze medallist, 400-meter hurdles at Munich 1972) in Marlborough, England at the redundant church of Sts Peter and Paul.
>From the NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/25/sports/john-akii-bua-47-is-dead-ugandan-won-olympic-gold.html In 1972, after only one international competition, Akii-Bua arrived at the Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. His opposition in the 400-meter hurdles included Dave Hemery of Britain, the world record-holder and defending Olympic champion, and Ralph Mann, an American. His only pair of running shoes was two years old, and one shoe was missing a spike. But he was built ideally (6 feet 2 inches and 170 pounds), and he had trained with frightening intensity. In the six months before the Olympics, his training had included wearing a vest weighted with 25 pounds in lead as he ran 1,500 meters over five hurdles that were 42 inches high -- the hurdles for his race were 36 inches. He did four sets of those repetitions, twice a day, every day. He won the Olympic gold medal in 47.82 seconds, a world record, leaving the silver medalist, Mann (48.51 seconds), and the bronze medalist, Hemery (48.52), six meters behind. Then he ran a victory lap and jumped over the hurdles again. ++++++++++++ venantius j pinto
