The javelin throw is very technical and is also stressful on the arms and shoulders. In a region where there is a dearth of internationally competitive field athletes, javelin thrower Justin Arop rose to the occasion, representing Uganda for many years at the All African Games, the Commonwealth of Nations Games and the Olympic Games. In the process he broke the African record. Arop’s national record still stands and he remains Uganda’s best individual field athlete.

Arop’s remarkable athletic talent was evident when he was a teenager. In 1976, at the East and Central African Championships in Zanzibar, the 18-year-old Arop won the gold medal with a distance of 68.05m. Arop dethroned veteran champion John Mayaka of Kenya, who had also won the bronze medal at the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh with an Africa record throw of 77.56m. At the next East and Central African Championships, Arop would again be javelin champion (71.04 m) in 1977 in Mogadishu in Somalia, in 1981 (74.94 m) in Mombasa in Kenya, in 1982 (73.02 m ) in Cairo in Egypt, in 1985 in Cairo, in 1989 (69.94 m) in Arusha in Tanzania and in 1990 (66.50 m) in Jinja in Uganda. In 1989, at the same Championships, the strong and agile Arop won gold with his 13.15m shot put. The Championships ended in 1990; they were briefly revived in 1995 as the East African (Zone V) Championships, but had lost their spark and were only held for three more years, in 2001, 2003 and 2005.

At the 1978 All African Games in Algiers, Justin Arop won gold with a national record throw of 76.94 meters, well ahead of runner-up, silver medalist Ali Memmi of Tunisia (71.28 m), and bronze medalist John Mayaka (70.76m) from Kenya. The next venue for the Pan African Games was Nairobi in Kenya in 1987, almost 10 years after the Algiers venue in 1978. Arop skillfully defended his continental title, winning gold with a throw of 73.42m. One meter behind was silver medalist Zakayo Malekwa of Tanzania, who was ahead of bronze medalist George Odera (71.30m) of Kenya.

Arop remains the only track and field athlete to have represented Uganda at three Olympic venues. Born on March 24, 1958 in the Acholi region of northern Uganda, Arop was 22 when he represented Uganda at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. In the Javelin Throw Qualifying Round, which was held on July 26, 1980, Arop’s best throw was amazing. His best distance was 82.68m, a new Ugandan record that has yet to be broken! It was also a new record from Africa! However, many of the javelin throwers were ahead of Arop: he placed eighth and well behind the best athlete in the qualifying round, Ferenec Paraqi from Hungary (88.76m). The requirement had been for the top twelve, plus any additional competitor throwing more than 80 meters to qualify for the final round. Arop was the only African finalist. Marius Corbett of the Republic of South Africa set the current African record of 88.75 meters in 1998.

The twelve Olympic finalists threw their final throws on July 27. With a best throw of 77.34 m, including some fouls, Justin Arop’s ranking dropped to 12th, or last among the finalists. Unfortunately, Arop’s final throw was 77.34m, more than 5m short of his best record throw from the qualifying rounds! The winners were gold medalist Dainis Kula (Soviet Union) with 91.20m, silver medalist Aleksandr Makarov (Soviet Union) with 89.64m and Wolfgang Hanisch (East Germany) with a throw of 86.72m.

Among the many years that Justin Arop won the javelin at the Uganda Athletics Championships are 1981 (75.90m), 1982 (68.30m), 1984 (64.17m), 1985 (65.22m), m), 1986 (74.10 m), 1987 (65.23 m), 1990 (64.48 m) and 1991 (66.76 m). Arop was also a national shot put champion in 1982 (14.24 m), 1985 (13.20 m), and 1986 (12.82 m).

At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in August, the challenge was for the top 12 javelin throwers plus everyone who managed at least 83 meters to advance to the Final Round. On August 4, Arop’s performance among the athletes in the Group A qualifying round was a far cry from his Olympic performance in Moscow in 1980. This time, Arop’s best throw of 69.76 m was the worst among the athletes. 14 competitors of the Group. Arop was eliminated from advancing to the final. In the end, Arop’s distance of 69.76m put him 27th overall, just ahead of last 28th and bottom place finisher, New Zealand’s Mike O’Rourke, whose outrageous fouls didn’t allow him to score at all. The other African competitor, Zakayo Malekwa from Tanzania, who Arop was familiar with competitively, was ranked 19th overall.

On September 24, 1988, the 30-year-old Arop was ready to throw the javelin in his third Olympic appearance. This time the yardstick was for the first twelve and ties, and all those who had shot from a distance of 79 meters to advance to the Final Round. There were two qualifying round pools and Arop was in Group B. Of the 19 competitors in Group B, Arop placed 17th with a best throw of 69.10m. Therefore, he did not reach the final. In the end, Arop placed 33rd out of 38 competitors. Interestingly, Zakayo Malekwa, again the only other African competitor, placed 34th with his best throw of 67.56m. The winning Olympic medalists were Jan Zelezny from Czechoslovakia (85.90 m, a new Olympic record), Seppo Raty from Finland (81.62 m) and Tapio Korjus from Finland (81.42 m).

On August 29, 1987, at the 2nd IAAF World Championships in Athletics held in Rome, out of 37 participants, Arop was eliminated in the qualifying round after recording a best throw of 71.76 meters and finishing 14th. The medal-winning finalists were future Olympic medalist Seppo Raty of Finland (83.54m), Viktor Yevsyukov of the Soviet Union (82.52m), and future Olympic medalist Jan Zelezny of Czechoslovakia (82.20m). And in Ulm, West Germany, at a track meet, Justin Arop threw the javelin at 75.52 meters on August 6, 1988.

On January 3 at the 1990 Commonwealth Games, held in Auckland, New Zealand, Arop’s best javelin throw was 70.74m. He was the best among the African competitors in the event, but it would only give him an eighth place finish in the final. The medalists were the English Steve Backley (86.02 m) and Mick Hill (83.32 m), and the New Zealander Gavin Lovegrove (81.66 m).

Justin Arop was just 36 years old when he passed away in 1994. The Arop Memorial Championships, in his honour, were first held in Gulu, northern Uganda, at the Pece Stadium, in July 2006, September 2007 and April 2009. In April 2010, the family pleaded with the Ugandan government to build a school or vocational institute in Justin Arop’s honor.