The world-renowned Namibian athlete, Lazarus ‘Kappies’ Kapolo, was a household name in the 1970s and 80s. He made the country proud, bringing home gold medals and competing against Olympic athletes like Sebastian Coe. What ever happened to Kappies Kapolo? Forty years later, I decided to find out.
Nicknamed ‘Kappies’ because of his unusual running style, moving his head forward and backward in a rhythmic beat as if he was chopping wood, Lazarus Kapolo stepped into the limelight and the international arena when sport in the country was starting to become integrated prior to Namibian independence in 1990. Kappies Kapolo quickly became a popular figure, uniting all ethnicities in their wish to see him succeed.
He was especially significant to me when I was in my twenties, a sport enthusiast and teacher at one of Namibia’s first multiracial schools, Concordia College. I avidly followed his career and his many victories, cheering him on.
Born in the small village of Okaku in the Oshana Region of northern Namibia, Kappies’s training began when he had to get to and from the Onimwandi Primary School, 15km from his village. His running exploits to school and back through the water-filled oshanas stood him in good stead and by the time he was participating in school athletics events he was in prime physical condition.
He competed for the first time on a national level when he represented his school in the ‘South West Africa Athletics Sports Union Championships’ in Windhoek in 1975, running 1500, 3000 and 5000 metre events and setting new record times in each. The turning point in his life came three years later in 1978 when he was spotted at the ‘South West Africa Athletics Championships’ in Otjiwarongo by Consolidated Diamond Mines – CDM – (now Namdeb) and asked if he was interested in a job opportunity. He was, and was soon employed in Oranjemund as a sports coordinator, a position he held for many years. This enabled him to compete in many national and international athletics events. Kappies became a record breaker in the 800-metre event when he won first place in the Diamond & Gold Division in February 1980 with a time of 1:49.47, becoming the first Namibian to run it under two minutes.
He improved on his time later that year, setting a record time of 1:47.72 – which stood for more than 15 years, and became the first black ‘South West Africa Sportsman of the Year’. In 1987 he participated in the Europe Circuit (the Diamond League today), beating four-time Olympic medallist Sebastian Coe in the one-mile event in Austria with a time of 3:56.00. His prize money was 4800 deutsche mark and when he returned home, he bought himself his first vehicle, a Ford F100 bakkie. Looking back, Kappies says that his greatest moments were when he was representing the country in South Africa, Poland, France, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands.
Kappies kept active when he retired from competitive athletics. He continued to work at CDM/Namdeb until 2017, moving into their industrial relations and human resources departments, he raised a family and in his spare time played tennis, farmed cattle and goats in the Eenhana district of the Ohangwena Region and coached youngsters at his athletics club.
I first visited Kappies eight years ago in Oranjemund. It was easy to locate the friendly outgoing man. He invited me in and showed me his hall of fame, glittering with the many trophies he had won in his athletics career. I visited him again this year when I was in the North. When I arrived at his home in the village of Okapya2 north of Ondangwa, he was busy working in his garden looking fit and full of energy as he approaches his seventh decade. He told me that he still walks up to ten kilometres a day, visits his cattle post regularly and has never touched a drop of alcohol. “Running was for the love of running,” he told me. “Those days money wasn’t an issue.” His first sponsorship was for shoes, togbags and tracksuits. Kappies introduced me to his wife, Juliane, and we all sat talking in the garden, reminiscing about his glory days of running and his many achievements. To this day I remain a huge fan.
Kapolo is in good company among Namibia’s great athletes with people like Frank Fredericks and, more recently, Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi, who are unlocking the great potential of Namibian sportsmen.
I will always remember Kappies fondly for streaking ahead when politics was still dragging its heels and for inspiring the young people of Namibia.
(References: Interviews with Kappies Kapolo – 2014 & 2022;
‘Citizen spotlight – Tate Lazarus “Kappies’ Kapolo’ by Evelyne Kavari, Oranjemund Community Newsletter;
‘Kapolo trains youths to follow in his footsteps’, 23.04.2021, by Conrad Angula, The Namibian)