Kapolo trains youths to follow in his footsteps

LAZARUS Kapolo is a household name in Namibian athletics. Born at Okaku village, in the Oshana region 68 years ago, Kapolo made his presence felt on the local athletics tracks, right from his first major event in 1975 until his final race in 1984.

A self-proclaimed diehard Tigers FC fan, he set a long-standing record of 1:46,80 in the 800m in Pretoria, South Africa, which was broken by Daniel Nghipandulwa with a time of 1:46,62 in Durban, in 2011.

The pint-sized former middle distance runner made his introduction to national team athletics when he represented his school Ongwediva Opleiding Skool at the High School Athletics Championships hosted by Augustineum High School in Windhoek in 1975.

“It was an epic setting. My very first high profile event after dominating track and field in northern Namibia. I came up against other top black runners from the former Central, Damaraland, Kavangoland and Ovamboland.

"I participated in the 1 500m, 3 000m and 5 000m and set new times in all three races. I was on cloud nine because I was expecting very tough competition because the other runners had been exposed to better training.”

Hosts Augustineum represented the Central region, Cornelius Goreseb and Petrus Ganeb (Uis) turned up for Damaraland, Romanus Kampungu was for Kavangoland, while St Joseph’s (Dobra) and Martin Luther participated as private schools and Ongwediva Opleiding Skool represented Ovamboland.

The event was known as the South West Africa Athletics Sports Union Championships.

The turning point in Kapolo’s athletics career came during the 1978 South West Africa Athletics Championships at Otjiwarongo where his sterling showing drew the attention of the talent scouts from the Consolidated Diamond Mines (CDM).

He moved to Oranjemund to work for CDM in 1979 and continued his sublime form at the Diamond Division Championships contested by CDM, Rapang from Botswana and Kleinzee Mine from Northern Cape, South Africa, winning all his races.

But it was not until he started running the 800m that Kapolo became a serial record breaker.

“My first 800m South West Africa record of 1:59,09 was in Welkom, Orange Free State, at the Diamond & Gold Division event in February 1980 and I become the first Namibian to run the race under two minutes.

“I improved the record in April despite finishing eighth in Potchefstroom in South Africa where I clocked 1:51,09 and I was named as the first ever black South West Africa Sportsman of the Year in 1980,” he said.

Kapolo continued his good form in 1981 at an event in Cape Town in February where he clocked 1:49,08 although finishing third but his best display of that year was at the South African Athletics Championships in April where he finished second in 1:48,09.

“I controversially missed out on being awarded the Springbok or at least the Junior Springbok colours despite finishing second. But those were the years when black athletes had to accept whatever decision was taken by the organisers."

Kapolo’s countryman Frank Fredericks received full Springbok colours by winning in both the 100m and 200m sprints while the 400m hotshot, Daniel Haitembu, received the Junior Springbok colours.

Kapolo went to Germany for a six-month training camp in Stuttgart in 1980 where he also participated in a few meetings.

“Running in Europe was a lifetime experience. I participated in what is the modern day Diamond League series but the moment I cherished the most was when I beat British legend and four-time Olympic medallist Sebastian Coe during a race in Austria in a time of 1:47,00,” he enthuses.

Since Namibia’s was still under apartheid South African rule then, he ran as a German citizen.

“Money was secondary during our active days. We were never paid much but we were driven by the passion of being an athlete,” he says.

Kapolo regrets missing out on a scholarship after scouts from New Orleans, United States, approached him in Germany because it was always his dream to study sports administration.

Kapolo married Juliane-Fiona Kapolo in 1988 and the couple has three daughters.

The eldest is 31, the second 25 while the youngest is 22. None of them took up athletics.

The first born played tennis at high school in Cape Town, the second took up netball and hockey.

Kapolo, who still lives at Oranjemund, keeps fit by playing tennis regularly at the mine town, or travels to Tsumeb for a good game when he is at his home in the north.

Kapolo farms with cattle and goats in the Eenhana district of Ohangwena region

“Farming is good if there is enough water and we still have a reasonably good amount after good rainfall. The grass is good and the animals are looking great.

“I had to run through the oshanas that were full of water and the water helped make my legs stronger and my conditioning was perfect when I started running in competitions. I was super fit and I never breathed very heavily like my counterparts.

“I competed against people like Frank Kayele, the late Lucas Halweendo and Hosea Nico Kaiyamo was also a fantastic runner. Even Simeon Sledge Kanime was an excellent runner but he stopped running maybe to pursue his singing career,” says Kapolo, adding that former Arandis mayor Daniel Utapi Muhuura was his closest rival in the 800m.

The former star runner was very inspired by footballers like former Life Fighters and African Stars striker Gerson Kaputji Kuhanga, who went on to play for South African glamour boys Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates sharpshooter Ben Kleintjie Gaseb and dribbling wizard Dahle Stephanus of Tigers, who both obtained Springbok status.

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