- 1987 All-Africa Games
The 4th
All-Africa Games were played fromAugust 1 1987 toAugust 12 1987 inNairobi ,Kenya . 42 countries participated in fourteen sports.From the beginning the intent had been to hold the African Games every four years. Economic difficulties and general civil unrest had never allowed this to happen. The fourth Games were no exception. Originally scheduled for 1982, a weak
Kenyan economy slowed preparations. The Chinese helped provide the necessary funds and manpower to begin buildingKasarani Stadium , but too late to hold the games on schedule. It was suggested at one time thatTunis ,Tunisia arrange the fourth games in 1982 andNairobi take its turn in the fifth games in 1986. This proposal was voted down, but the Nairobi games dates were pushed back to 1986. This was still not enough time for the Kenyans to ready themselves and the games finally opened in August 1987.A torch was relayed from Nairobi to the Kenyan coast, the Kenyan highlands and back to Nairobi where World Champion
John Ngugi carried it into the stadium in front of an enthusiastic crowd of 80,000.Organizational difficulties with housing and facilities, typical in events such as these, were evident in the Nairobi games as well, but in the end the games concluded without undue calamity.
Egypt won the soccer final from host Kenya on the final day, and finished at the top of the medals table once again.Medal table
"Host country in bold."
Athletics
Three athletes, two female and one male, won more than one event:
*
Selina Chirchir , Kenya (800 metres and 1500 metres)
*Maria Usifo , Nigeria (100 m hurdles and 400 m hurdles)
*Adewale Olukoju , Nigeria (shot put and discus throw)In addition, Nigeria won all four
relay race s; 4x100 metres and 4x400 metres for men and for women.Some new women's events were added:
3000 metres ,10000 metres , 400 metres hurdles and 5000 metres track walk. Additionally, the obsoletedpentathlon event was replaced by theheptathlon .Soccer
The soccer tournament was won by Egypt. It was the first Games in which the host country did not win, although the host Kenya finished second. Malawi won their first All-Africa medal.
External links
* [http://www.gbrathletics.com/ic/afg.htm Athletics results - gbrathletics.com]
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