Judith Ayaa

Career Early career At the age of 16, Ayaa won gold in the women's 100m race at the 1968 East and Central African Championships in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania with a time of 11.5 seconds. Ayaa began to establish dominance at the championships, winning the 100m, 200m and 400m in the 1969 competition in the capital of Uganda, Kampala. She was also a member of the relay team that claimed gold at the event. Her best time in the 400m of 53.6 seconds ranked her among the top 10 athletes in the world at the time for the event. She repeated her sweep at the 1970 championships in Nairobi, Kenya, winning all three of her events. Her podium finish made her the first Ugandan woman to win a medal at a commonwealth games.

In 1971, Ayaa won a 400m gold medal at a USA vs the rest of the world event. Her time of 54.69 second was nearly a second faster than her nearest competitors, Americans Gwendolyn Norman and Jarvis Scott. Later the same year, in the East and Central African Championships, Ayaa claimed another haul of gold medals. She won the 400 m event before adding golds in the and team events. Ayaa finished fourth in her heat after running the race in 52.85 seconds. In the quarter-final, Ayaa was drawn alongside reigning Olympic champion Colette Besson. Ayaa finished third in the race, setting a new African 400m record of 52.68 seconds that was not beaten for more than three decades. Besson failed to qualify after placing fifth. Ayaa's competition ended in the semi-finals when she finished seventh in her race, eliminating her from the Games.

After the Olympics, Ayaa returned to the East and Central African Championships in Dar el Salaam where she won her fourth gold in the 400m event. She also won gold in the team event.

The economic downturn in Uganda under the regime of Idi Amin pushed Ayaa into poverty and she was forced to beg on the streets of Kampala before earning a living by breaking stones. John Akii-Bua, a teammate of Ayaa's at the 1972 Summer Olympics who won gold in the men's 400m hurdles, discovered Ayaa's plight and raised awareness. Donations were made to support her before she died at Mulago Hospital in Kampala in 2002. A nursery school, named the Ayaa Foundation was set up in her hometown to care for orphans and vulnerable children. In 2014, plans were announced for a statue of Ayaa to be erected in Koch-Goma.