1978 All-Africa Games

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III All-Africa Games
Stade 5 Juillet 1962

The 3rd All-Africa Games – Algiers 1978 was a multi-sport event 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

All-Africa Games in 1987. After the games, Morocco boycotted the competition following the recognition of Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
by the AU until 2019.

The games

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony officially began on July 13, 1978. It was organized by Mohamed Zerguini, president of the

Mohamed Mzali (vice-president of the IOC), Masaji Kiyokawa (Vice Chairman of the IOC), the French Count Jean de Beaumont, the IOC executive 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 Organizing Committees of the Olympic Games 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:

Somalia participated in the games, but not mentioned.

Sports

Medal table

  *   Host nation (Algeria)

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Tunisia (TUN)29142063
2 Nigeria (NGR)18101543
3 Algeria (ALG)*16192358
4 Kenya (KEN)118827
5 Morocco (MAR)781126
6 Ghana (GHA)44715
7 Libya (LBA)43512
8 Senegal (SEN)42410
9 Uganda (UGA)36514
10 Ivory Coast (CIV)2349
11 Zambia (ZAM)2024
12 Sudan (SUD)2002
13 Mali (MLI)1102
14 Chad (CHA)1001
 Swaziland (SWZ)1001
16 Cameroon (CMR)0448
17 Togo (TOG)0145
18 Ethiopia (ETH)0123
19 Tanzania (TAN)0112
 Upper Volta (VOL)0112
21 Gabon (GAB)0011
Totals (21 entries)10586117308

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:

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