Amadou Dia Bâ wins Olympic silver in Seoul
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Senego
Amadou Dia Bâ won silver in the 400-metre hurdles at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, setting an African record and giving Senegal its first Olympic medal. His race, recounted by Lesoleil and republished by Senego, remains Senegal’s only Olympic medal.
In Seoul in 1988, Amadou Dia Bâ gave Senegal its first Olympic medal by finishing second in the 400-metre hurdles and setting an African record, reports Senego, citing an account published by daily newspaper Lesoleil on 26 September 1988.
National technical director Mamadou Ndiaye explained that the Senegalese athlete had followed his coach’s instructions by staying close to Philips without trying to chase him from the start. Dia Bâ accelerated from the eighth hurdle after seeing that Moses was no longer in the race, and finished four hundredths of a second behind Philips. He then dedicated his medal to the Senegalese people, the president of the Republic and the country’s youth, according to Lesoleil.
