El Hadj Amadou Dia Ba, forever the first October 25, 2026
The forehead is bright. The muscles, well sculpted. The step is sure. The race, triumphant. Her ebony blackness matches the white of her athletic outfit. Amadou Dia Ba, who runs. Who carries the hope of an entire people in the muscles of his legs. His look is triumphant. He triumphed and with him, all of Senegal.
There was something to be proud of, Amadou. You certainly haven’t forgotten it, but we remember it. And with the words of Mr. Abdou Diouf, then president. “You have just broken the African record for the 400m hurdles in Seoul and at the same time won a silver medal for Senegal.”
Seoul 88, Amadou, remember? Your race, your record, your silver medal that is ours. A first for the country, Mr. Athlete, a first.
On Monday September 26, 1988, he is on a page of the newspaper “Le Soleil”, sublime like a hero from a Greek mythology, immortalized in a black and white photo, running. And whose race continues to recall this performance which brings out ordinary mortals for the assembly of the eternal firsts.
Someone was thus deleting a formula worthy of your achievement. He wrote: “Amadou Dia Ba forces the doors of Olympus”. He called your task “arduous”, because you were running “alongside the best specialists in the world”.
But you, your heart, your mind and your muscles, were running on a fuel that kerosene envies. Which is “the heavy responsibility” with which “an entire people” has burdened you, not to mention “the constant solicitude of the Head of State”. The other was absolutely sure: “He had no right to fail.”
“He”, Amadou! And you, Dia Ba, have not failed. El Hadj did not fail, because “El Hadj is a great champion”.
In the Sports page, rather special to Seoul, this sentence is the title of a text which collects the impressions of the national technical director Mamadou Ndiaye. Amadou Dia Ba is a great champion, serious, conscientious.
Mr. Ndiaye testifies: “Since his semi-final, we have not seen him in the streets of the village.” He then prepared to beat everyone! He did it.
The Dtn, reported by special correspondent Cheikh Tidiane Fall, recounted to posterity the moments of the exploit. “El Hadj started his race very well”, certainly, but he was behind a certain Phillips. “From the eighth hurdle when he felt that Moses was no longer in the race, he attacked Philips and finished 4/100th of a second behind the latter, which allowed him to shatter the African record.”
Better: he kept his promise by beating Moses. He had promised it to the young people of the village. The country, the young people and Cheikh Tidiane Ndiaye were all delighted.
“I am rarely satisfied but today there is every reason to be,” maintained Mr. Ndiaye.
There is jom and athleticism behind the silver medalist’s performance in Seoul. But, there is also and above all strategy.
Promised, done
The main person concerned, you El Hadj Amadou Dia Ba, emphasized, as reported by Cheikh Tidiane Fall, that between athletes, “everyone was equal”. Your plus being this attentive ear that you lent to your trainer.
“He advised me not to follow like a madman Philips who always goes very fast, but also not to let myself get lost.”
But, in your mindset, Mr. Dia Ba, strategy and execution power are not two distinct performance levers. Senegal owes its first Olympic medal to your ability to alternate between one and the other.
You said both. And you said, “But I went fast too, and when I realized that Ed couldn’t catch up with me anymore, I sprinted.”
And that’s how you became a legend.
But you, El Hadj, are not the type to bring everything back to yourself. “I offer this medal to the people, to the President of the Republic and to the youth of my country.”
This sentence is yours and Cheikh Tidiane Fall has taken it verbatim. This is the title of the paper illustrated by a photo where you appear with Abdou Diouf, the first of your supporters, and another photo where the Golden Lion of the “Sun” is given to you by the Minister of State Jean Collin…
Moussa SECK
