When Everybody Wanted To Run The World
by Philip Barker
Sudanese middle distance runner Omer Khalifa was an Olympic finalist at the 1984 Olympics over 1500m and also competed in the 1988 Seoul Games but he is best known for another run he undertook 40 years ago this week.
Khalifa was the symbolic Torch Bearer for “The Race Against Time” and lit a cauldron outside the United Nations building in New York to set in motion a mass participation event in support of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and famine relief.
It was the crowning moment of a week of events called Sport Aid.
It had been organised by events promoter and environmentalist Chris Long and Sir Bob Geldof, the lead singer of the Boomtown Rats.
In 1984, Geldof, had watched a television news report by the BBC’s Michael Buerk describing the horrific famine in Ethiopia. Geldof joined Midge Ure of Ultravox to write a fundraising song. Many of the biggest pop stars gathered to record “Do they Know it’s Christmas?” performing as “Band Aid.” It was an immediate hit.
The following year, Geldof was the moving spirit behind “Live Aid,” monumental rock concerts held on the same day at Wembley Stadium and at the JFK Stadium in Philadelphia.
In March 1986, Long and Geldof launched Sport Aid.
“Let’s hope they pay attention to the blistered feet of 20 million people who will be joining us,” Geldof told the runners in London’s Hyde Park.
Tears for Fears, a British rock group recorded a new version of their 1985 hit “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” with a small but significant change to the lyrics.
The video for “Everybody Wants to Run the World” featured Geldof, 1980 Olympic swimming gold medallist Duncan Goodhew, 1984 Olympic women’s javelin champion Tessa Sanderson, heavyweight boxer Frank Bruno and the England football squad, then in training for the 1986 FIFA World Cup.
There was also a guest appearance from Carl Lewis. “This is the race against time for Africa, you don’t have to run the whole distance, just get out and take part,” Lewis said. Actor Sir Peter Ustinov, a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador also took part in the video.
Vangelis also composed a special piece of music to accompany “The Race Against Time.”
In mid-May, Khalifa lit a Torch at the El Moweilih relief camp in the Sudan.
1986 Sport Aid brochure
He was joined in Khartoum by an escort of young runners and received a garland of flowers before flying to Athens.
He ran from the port of Piraeus towards Acropolis Hill and reached the Parthenon as part of a symbolic journey through Europe.
“You are for the people and against war and all things that hurt the hungry,” he was told by Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou.
“I believe Sport Aid is a very good way to make a liaison between art, athletics and peace,” said Greek culture minister Melina Mercouri.
As Khalifa continued his journey, a programme of sports events unfolded in Britain.
There was a rugby sevens competition at the National Stadium in Cardiff, the forerunner of the Millennium Stadium. This was won by New Zealand.
Birmingham, a candidate city for the 1992 Olympics, played a central part in the events with gymnastics and a skating gala, both held at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. World European and Olympic ice dance gold medallists Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean performed in a specially choreographed routine to the “Shepherd’s Song,” sung by Dame Kiri te Kanawa.
“When Band Aid started, we telephoned to say if there was anything we were able to be involved with, we’d like to and then we heard about Sports Aid and they asked us to be part of it,” they said.
At Edgbaston, Birmingham’s famous cricket ground, heavy rain spoilt the Sport Aid match between the West Indies and the Rest of the World XI. Only 13.3 overs were possible in which West Indies reached for 78 one.
Meanwhile the Sport Aid Flame continued to Madrid and then Rome. Khalifa was accompanied by two children as he raised the Torch towards a balcony in the Vatican where Pope Jean Paul II came out to greet him.
“It is an important message. The urgency of aid for those who need it most, for the populations and particularly the children of the countries of Africa must be felt by all,” the Pope said.
Then it was on to Brussels, Budapest, Bonn and Helsinki where Khalifa had won the 1500m at the World Games Grand Prix a year earlier.
In Paris, Khalifa met French President Francois Mitterrand; British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher welcomed him to London.
Certificate given to runners in 1986
He was also received at Buckingham Palace by Prince Charles and Diana Princess of Wales.
Khalifa then flew by Concorde to New York. Geldof had also intended to travel but a combination of tonsillitis and fatigue forced him to remain in London.
Instead, he watched on the big screens in London as Khalifa, ran through Central Park.
“The man who carried the Flame out of the deserts of the Sudan and ran with such dignity and such pride, represents what Africa could be if it was given half a chance,” Geldof said.
Khalifa lit the Flame outside the United Nations Building where a UN Special Session on the Critical Economic Situation in Africa was to begin the following day.
As the Flame burned, Geldof shouted “Change the World” as runs began in London and simultaneously across the World. They ran in Athens, Barcelona, Budapest, Paris, Santiago, Seoul and many other cities. In Brisbane and Auckland they ran in the middle of the night.
They also ran in Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso where 28,000 ran, a larger proportion of the population than anywhere else.
In all there were events in 300 cities and over 20 million took part.
Sport Aid raised approximately $37 million for famine relief.
On Sunday, London’s Olympic Stadium hosts the latest Soccer Aid match in aid of UNICEF.
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