Kopolo, icon of black achievement and pride
Lazarus Kapolo’s immense talent on the athletics track in middle-distance running made him a fearful competitor against his more celebrated opponents from South Africa during the height of apartheid in the 1970’s and 80’s. His flourishing athletics career got off at the Oniimwandi Primary School, while still wet behind the ears in the village of Oniimwandi in the vast Oshana Region, where he honed his skills as an aspiring athlete. The barefoot middle-distance runner rose to prominence when he showed his fellow competitors a clean pair of heels during the inaugural edition of the Windhoek Lager Athletics Championships in 1980 at the Windhoek Stadium, later to be renamed Independence Stadium, to coincide with Namibia’s independence celebrations in 1990. Not only did he embarrass his more fancied opponents during his first attempt on the national stage, but he also surprised friend and foe when he tumbled the national record in the 800m race in an astonishing time of 1-minute-47-point-zero-seconds, leaving established campaigners the likes of, Springboks Danie Goosen and Flippe Prinsloo in the lurch and announced his arrival in style.
In today’s edition of Inside the Aged, the forgotten man of Namibian athletics, shares his story with you the reader and how he conquered the world of athletics during very trying times, including his countless battles with internationally acclaimed middle-distance king, Sebastian Coe. He also speaks out against the current crop of sports administrators for constantly failing to recognize the sacrifices and achievements of retired athletes.
WINDHOEK – Lazarus Kapolo, better known as Kappies among his circle of friends, teamed up with boyhood buddy, the late Daniel Haitembu to conquer the unknown territory and challenges of international athletics. The pair became a much-sought-after commodity in local sports to the extend that they even surpassed the exploits of adored footballers in the mould of Hermann ‘Pele’ Blaschke, Oscar Mengo, Lemmy Narib and Pius Eigowab. The two athletes became an inspiration to hundreds of local sports fans, who laboured under the servile impression that whites were superior to blacks in all aspects of life. Both Kappies and Haitembu became instant hits among the usually hard-to-please local sports enthusiasts and were worshipped by their fans. This automatically earned them the honour of iconic signifiers of black achievement and pride by virtue of their exploits on the athletics track that saw them come out tops against their more fancied opponents almost every time they competed.
Brought up in the small village of Oniimwandi, approximately 5 kilometres north of Oshakati, young Kappies was certainly destined to become a great athlete, since he was compelled by circumstances beyond his reach to accumulate 80 kilometres of running everyday as he went to school and back, five days a week. “We were made to run very fast after school, because we had to be at the homestead within an hour to herd the cattle,” reveals the Okakukiipupu born Kappies, with his sparkling wit and humour. Unrivaled performances for the Ongwediva Secondary Training School, gained Kapolo a reputation as a formidable middle-distance athlete, resulting in the Consolidated Diamond Mine (CDM) taking an interest in him.
He was eventually snapped up by CDM on the recommendation of Chris Esterhuyzen, the man accredited for shaping the raw athlete during a flourishing athletics career that took him beyond the borders of his native land to compete in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) Germany, France and Poland at the highest level of global athletics. Kappiess made a clean sweep at the prestigious South West Africa National Athletics Championships in Otjiwarongo in 1978, claiming gold medals in the 1500 and 3000 as well as the 5000m races – easily showing established long-distance runners from Döbra and Augustineum High School, a clean pair of heels to cement his undisputed dominance.
It was not too long before his talent was recognized by local athletics chiefs, through his sterling performances in domestic competitions, winning all but one long-distance race against former long-distance athlete George ‘Uarotua’ Mukuahima who also excelled as a highly talented pugilist. He repeated the same feat in the 1979 edition of the South West Africa National Athletics Championships held in Windhoek and it came as no surprise when he was enticed by a lucrative job offer to join CDM as a Sports Officer where he still works to this day. Named South West Africa (SWA) Sportsman of the Year in 1980, Kapolo became a household name and rewrote the history books by becoming the first black athlete to claim this accolade alongside Salome Maritz, who clinched the Sportswoman of the Year award.
Together with his buddy Daniel Haitembu, Kappies competed under the banner of West-Germany in the popular Europa League. The pair made headlines as they brushed aside their celebrated opponents with ease in the highly competitive Europa League. “We were competing under the banner of West-Germany because Namibia was not recognized as a country since it was purely categorized as the 5th province of South Africa, while South Africa itself was banned from competing internationally, because of its apartheid laws,” explains the 59-year-old Kappies.
He announced his arrival on the big stage with an astonishing first place finish in the 1500m race in Vienna, Austria – in the process claiming the scalp of world acclaimed middle- distance runner Sebastian Coe of Britain. Kappies did fairly well during his six-month stint in West-Germany where he claimed commendable 2nd and 3rd place podium finishes in the high profile Europa League in cities such as Berlin, Stuttgart, Bochum, Munich, as well as various podium spots in France, Austria and Poland. He speaks fondly of his first international participation when he was selected to represent his native land in Salisbury, Rhodesia in 1977. Kappies was included in the strong 3-member squad alongside Haitembu and another fellow from the Augustineum High School, Gabriel Nembeya.
The latter won gold in the 5000m race with Haitembu claiming gold and silver medals in both the 400 and 200m sprints respectively. Although Kapolo finished in a disappointing 4th place on his first excursion – he reckons the competition was just what the good doctor had ordered for his promising athletics career as he never looked back after that. He tumbled the 800m SWA record during the South African Championships in Bloemfontein with a time of 1-minute-47-0-seconds, leaving the likes of Springboks Danie Goosen and Flippe Prinsloo to pick up the pieces for 2nd and 3rd places respectively. That record stood for 21-years before it was bettered by current Namibian king of middle-distance running Daniel Nghipandulwa who set a time of I-minute-46-point 6-2 seconds in 2011.
Kappies’ seminal moment arrived when he was selected for the Springbok junior team that pitted their strength against the senior Springboks in a high profile meeting in Cape Town. He finished 2nd behind the legendary Johan Fourie, but nevertheless passed the test with flying colours as he recorded an amazing time of 1-minute-47-point-zero-seconds – the 3rd personal best of his entire athletics career.
Bra Kappies also tried his hand in the beautiful game of football where he played as a no-nonsense right fullback until the young Rusten Mogane made him to completely lose further interest in the game. “We came to Windhoek to compete against St Josephs and Augustineum Secondary School, but were badly hammered 7-1 by the latter with Rusten freely piercing our defense like a knife cutting through butter,” he recalls before adding that he also had serious problems marking the dangerous Albert Tjihero when they played against the equally dangerous St Josephs Secondary School (Döbra). Kapolo pulls no punches and blasts local sports bosses and the government for ignoring retired sportsmen and women and for failing to recognize the athletes’ past achievements. He believes this stance is deliberately designed to keep former athletes at arms-length, adding that it’s hampering the development and progress of athletes. “These people are more interested in lining up their own pockets while compromising the country’s pride through their selfishness.”
By Carlos Kambaekwa