Uganda's greatest sporting heroes


Uganda has produced many sports stars, who have gone on to achieve success at the continental and global level.
 
We take a look at the East-Central African country's greatest sports stars.
 

Joshua Cheptegei

 
The 23-year-old long-distance runner has quickly established himself as one of the most successful Ugandan athletes of all-time.
 
Cheptegei, who has won two gold medals at the World Athletics Championship in the 10,000m race, set a new world road 5km record of 12:51 in Monaco, besting the old fastest time by 9 seconds in 2020.
 
Prior to that Cheptegei set a world record for the 15km road race and became the World Cross Country champion in 2019.
 
He was also the 5000m and 10,000m champion at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
 
Denis Onyango
 

Denis Onyango

 
The Uganda captain has established himself as the country's greatest footballer of all-time with his consistent displays at club and international level.
 
Onyango was very influential as Uganda qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals last year after 38 years. He was also instrumental in helping his South African club Mamelodi Sundowns win the 2016 CAF Champions League and CAF Super Cup.
 
The accomplished shot-stopper was named the 2016 CAF Player of the Year based in Africa and 2018 CAF Goalkeeper of the Year.
 
He was also ranked as the tenth best goalkeeper in the world in the list for 2016 compiled by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics.

"Denis as a footballer, his career, he is second to none. He has had an excellent career and he has justly gotten his rewards for that in terms of trophies and personal acknowledgements," Uganda coach Johnny McKinstry told BBC Sport.

"He has obviously been the captain for the Cranes for a while now. Down at Mamelodi Sundowns, he is a leading light in the dressing room so I think that there is a lot more that Denis has to offer. I very much want him to be part of the success we achieve going forward."

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Stephen Kiprotich

 
The 31-year-old long-distance runner is one of Uganda's most decorated athletics stars having won an Olympic gold medal 
 
Kiprotich clinched gold at the 2012 London Summer Olympics and also won gold at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics.
 
As a result, Kiprotich became the second person, after Gezahegne Abera, to follow an Olympic marathon gold medal with a world championship gold medal for the same event.
 
He also won the IAAF Moscow 2013 Marathon in a time of 2:09:51 to grab the Gold Medal in 2013. 
 
John Akii-Bua
 

John Akii-Bua

 
The late athletics superstar is regarded by some as the greatest Ugandan athlete of all-time due to his success in the 1970s.
 
Akii-Bua stunned the world when he won a gold medal in the 400m hurdles at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany.
 
This was the East-Central African country's maiden gold medal in the largest and most complex sporting event in the world. He crossed the finish line in world-record fashion.
 
He became the first man to cross the 47-second mark in the process.
 
"Of all the athletes I have worked with, I put John number one," legendary athletics coach Malcolm Arnold said on The Guardian.
 
"He came from very poor circumstances, living in a hovel while working as a policeman.
 
"We worry today about the technology of drugs; he struggled for one square meal a day. From there, his achievement was incredible."

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John Mugabe

 
The retired fighter is widely regarded as the greatest Ugandan boxer of all-time having enjoyed success in the Olympic Games and world boxing.
 
Mugabe held the WBC super-welterweight title from 1989 to 1990, and challenged twice for world titles at middleweight, including the undisputed championship.
 
In the 1980s, Mugabe was part of an exceptionally talented group of light-middleweights and middleweights during a "golden era" which included Sugar Ray Leonard, Wilfred Benítez and Roberto Durán.
 
He also won a silver medal in the welterweight division at the 1980 Summer Olympics, and was listed number 38 on Ring Magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all-time.


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Published: 04/08/2020