Our Heroes are already here

I was thankful for the air conditioning. And the meal. A five star, all you can eat English breakfast with bottomless coffee.

The dining room was full today, even more so than my plate was and my stomach was about to be. It was the first time I had seen people looking for a place to sit, and I wondered why this was so on this Saturday morning in Luanda, Angola.

Normally there was a table or two of American oil company executives, or a small conference delegation, but today it was different. As I observed from behind my stack of sausages, and a barricade of bacon, I noticed that there was a peculiar similarity to the patrons around the buffet, and as I followed one with my eyes to a table of ten, it was immediately obvious that their entire body fat percentages added up would still be less than mine, and that I had more calories on a single plate than they had on their table.

They were all wearing athletic gear and bright running shoes, and I thought how strange it was that the local running club would meet at an expensive hotel to eat salad or a sliver of melon for breakfast.

A well dressed man walked past with a side plate of fruit. He was not in his running kit but was still eating in the same sparse manner of his fellow diners, and it was clear that he was looking for a place to sit. I managed to swallow a healthy mouthful of eggs before I greeted him and asked if he would like to sit at my table for two. Besides, I was looking forward to understanding what was at the heart of this strange gathering of exercisers.

He graciously accepted. And so my learning started.

This was a gathering of the world’s great half marathon runners to run the inaugural Luanda Half Marathon. He pointed out a number of household names, and as he did so, I berated myself for not recognizing some of them. I also started to wish that I’d taken a bit more fruit and a lot less fat.

As we talked, people young and old walked past to greet him, some asked him to sign his autograph and others politely popped in for a selfie. All of them walked away with a smile and a lightness in their step. As if they needed that.

My intrigue was piqued when the organizer of the event pulled up a chair, and said to me how lucky I was to be sitting at this man’s table.

I was sitting with an Olympian, he said excitedly.

We talked some more, swapped business cards, took the obligatory picture, exchanged pleasantries and I left in a masked hurry. No, not to the gents, but rather straight to Google.

João N’Tyamba was born in 1968 in Lubango, Angola.

He is the only man in history to have competed in track and field in Six Olympic Games. There have been others in Equestrian and shooting and sailing who have competed in more, but as a true athlete, he is the only man to have achieved this.

Four women have achieved this by the way, but that is a subject for another essay. I have long held the belief that the world is crying out for more of their Leadership. Perhaps now more than ever.

João N’Tyamba, at the time of writing, was also the Angolan record holder in the 800m, 1000m, 1500m, 3000m, 10 000m, Half Marathon and Full Marathon.

He never won a medal in twenty years of top level competition which included five world championships, but imagine just competing at that level for over two decades, and having the ability and agility to adapt to different distances over his career.

He competed in his first Olympic games in Seoul in 1988, and ran his last one in Beijing in 2008, all the while running for his country.

In 1988 I was in my first year in the South African Airforce, supporting a war against that same country.

I learned a lot more than just athletics during that remarkable and spontaneous breakfast.

It started with a simple greeting and a warm acceptance. It led to a conversation over a meal. It remains to this day as one of the great pieces of understanding about myself and others.

I wonder if the world may just need to eat together a little more?

We often cry out that Africa needs more heroes. People like João who have both honour and humility, hospitality and humanity.

Perhaps Africa has plenty.

We may just need to notice them?

Steve