Explanation
This one of two feature stories I pegged to the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta. I found two local residents who had connections to the Olympic Games of previous years.

An Olympic moment missed

Local resident missed his chance at track Gold in '76

By Arik Hesseldahl
Of The Journal

When he hears the starting gun go off while watching an Olympic track and field event, Peter Amarteifio's legs start moving.

The former Idaho State University sprinter's fast-twitch muscle reflexes still work much as they did in the 1970s.

Perhaps his legs have a mind of their own, and are imagining the Olympic moment they were denied in 1976, a moment in which they may have propelled the Ghana-born Amarteifio to his own gold medal.

In 1972, he was Ghana's national champion in the 200 meter dash, but was told by coaches that he was too young and inexperienced to represent the country at the Olympics in Munich. So he set his sights on the 1976 games in Montreal.

In 1974, a Peace Corps volunteer saw him run in an intercollegiate track meet in Accra, Ghana's capital city.

"He saw some potential in me and recommended me to Bob Beeton, who was the track coach at ISU then. They contacted me and asked if I would like to come to Pocatello," he said.

He stopped off to visit ISU while on his way to the compete in the Commonwealth Games in New Zealand, and decided he would be back.

"I just fell in love with the Mini-Dome and the indoor facilities. I decided this would be a good place to stay and train," he said.

And train he did. Amarteifio was the only freshman sprinter at the time to be ranked at the top of the Big Sky Conference. His four school records in the 55-meter indoor dash, (5.9 seconds) the 100-meter indoor (10.5 seconds) 100 meter dash (10.1 seconds) and the 200-meter dash (20.99 seconds) still stand to this day.

By 1976 there was nothing to stop him from representing his home country in the Olympics, or so he thought.

That was the year that several African nations were outraged by a tour of the New Zealand national Rugby Team in South Africa. At the time South Africa, still deeply under the yoke Apartheid rule, was banned from international competition of any kind.

Though Rugby is not an Olympic Sport, countries like Ghana and Tanzania decided to boycott the Montreal Olympics in protest of the game.

Their decision made little sense to anyone, especially to Amarteifio and other African athletes, many of whom had been training at American colleges. 1976 was likely to have been a watershed year for African track athletes at the Olympics.

"It was not an appropriate decision. Some of the African athletes tried to run under the Olympic flag, but they did not allow us. New Zealand should not have been the reason to pull us out the games. We were ready and we wanted to run," he said.

He was more than ready. Before the Olympics, Amarteifio had defeated Dwayne Evans in the 200 meters. Evans went on to win the silver medal in that event as Amarteifio watched from the stands. It was July 25, 1976 — Amarteifio's birthday.

"There was no question I could have beat him," he said.

Of the memorabilia from the Montreal Games, Amarteifio has only his Olympic identification card and a few printed schedules. An Olympic medallion that was given to all athletes who showed up for the games was stolen from his apartment later that year.

He continued to train. By 1980 he had married his American-born wife, Becky, and had hopes of competing for the United States at the Moscow Olympics.

Again, politics interfered, as the U.S. led a multi-nation Olympic boycott in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

"By 1984 I had lost interest," he said.

Today, Amarteifio works for Weight Watchers, and helps coach track at Irving Junior High School and at ISU.

He still loves to talk track. He was amazed — as was the rest of the world — by Michael Johnson's world-record performance in the 200-meters in Atlanta, earlier this week.

"Every time I see that race I get chills. I was surprised he could still walk after that race. ...Even though he says he didn't run a perfect race, I don't think he'll ever repeat that," he said.