1978 All-Africa Games

III All-Africa Games
Host city Algiers, Algeria
Nations participating 45
Athletes participating 3000
Events 12 sports
Opening ceremony 13 July 1978
Closing ceremony 28 July 1978
Officially opened by Houari Boumediene
Main venue Stade 5 Juillet 1962
<  Lagos 1973 Nairobi 1987  >

The 3rd All-Africa Games were played from July 13, 1978 to July 28, 1978 in Algiers, Algeria. 45 countries from 49 independent African countries participated in twelve sports.

At the closing ceremonies the torch was passed to Nairobi, Kenya to begin preparations for the IVth All-African Games in 1987.

The games

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony officially began on July 13, 1978. It was organized by Mohamed Zerguini, president of the Algerian Olympic Committee and member of the International Olympic Committee. It was attended by Lord Killanin (president of the International Olympic Committee), Mohamed Mzali (vice-president of the IOC), Masaji Kiyokawa (Vice Chairman of the IOC), the French Count Jean de Beaumont, the IOC executif members Juan Antonio Samaranch, Mohamed Benjelloun, Lamine Keita, Mohamed Abel Halim and other members and 45 presidents or representatives of the African National Olympic Committees. And finally Ignaty Novikov, president of the The Organizing Committees of the Olympic Games (OCOGs) accompanied with representatives of Organizing Committees of the 1979 Mediterranean Games in Split.

Closing ceremony

At the conclusion of the games it was known where the next games would be held as Nairobi had come forth to offer to hold the games in 1987.

Stars of the games

Algeria vs Nigeria in the final match of the football tournament in Algiers

Henry Rono, the Kenyan star who had already set four world records on the track in 1978 won the 10,000 meters and 3000 meters steeplechase. Filbert Bayi again took the 1500 meters gold medal. The Algeria national football team wins the gold medal of the games against Nigeria, Ghana wins the bronze medal.

Participating Nations

The following is a list of nations that participated in the 1978 All-Africa Games:

  • Algeria (265)
  • Cameroon
  • Chad
  • Congo
  • Ivory Coast
  • Egypt Egypt
  • Ethiopia Ethiopia
  • Gabon
  • Ghana
  • Guinea
  • Kenya
  • Libya Libya
  • Malawi
  • Nigeria
  • Senegal
  • Sudan
  • Swaziland
  • Tanzania
  • Togo
  • Tunisia Tunisia
  • Uganda
  • Upper Volta
  • Zaire
  • Zambia Zambia

Sports

Medal table

  Host nation

Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 Tunisia 29142063
2 Nigeria 18101543
3 Algeria 16192358
4 Kenya 118827
5 Morocco 781126
6 Ghana 44715
7 Libya 43512
8 Senegal 42410
9 Uganda 36514
10 Ivory Coast 2349
11 Zambia 2024
12 Sudan 2002
13 Mali 1102
14 Chad 1001
 Swaziland 1001
16 Cameroon 0448
17 Togo 0145
18 Ethiopia 0123
19 Upper Volta 0112
 Tanzania 0112
21 Gabon 0011
Total 117101132303

Results

Athletics

Malian discus thrower Namakoro Niaré won his third title, being the only athlete to do so. Four athletes, two male and two female, won more than one event:

Some new events were added: Decathlon and pentathlon, for men and women respectively, as well as men's 20 km road walk.

Football

The football tournament was won by the host country Algeria.

Gold: Silver: Bronze:
Algeria Algeria

Coach:

Nigeria Nigeria

Coach:

Ghana Ghana

Coach:

Concerns and controversies

Egyptian incident

The Egyptian team, which had topped the medals table in the previous two games was called home by its government midway through the games after a brawl marred the football tournament. A fight between Libyans and Egyptians began at the end of the match after a Libyan player struck his opponent. The field became a ring between the players and leaders on both sides. It was reported that Algerian police did stop the violence. Live television broadcast the melee to Egypt. Egypt decided, as a result of these incidents, to withdraw from the competition and the Egyptian Prime minister called the team home immediately.[1]

The meeting of Algiers

The meeting gave those African nations associated with the Commonwealth a chance to address another brewing controversy; their proposed boycott of the 1978 Commonwealth Games which were to be held the following month in Edmonton, Canada. The discussions were fruitful and the boycott was not carried out.

References

  1. Azeddine Hammou. "Le faux départ des Jeux africains" (in French). El Watan. Retrieved 13 June 2007.

External links

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