Seraphino Antao (October 30, 1937 - September 6, 2011) was a runner from Kenya. He won two events at the

1962 Commonwealth Games The 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Perth, Australia, from 22 November to 1 December 1962. Athletic events were held at Perry Lakes Stadium in the suburb of Floreat and swimming events at Beatty Park in North Perth. The ...

, making him the first Kenyan athlete to win a gold medal at an international level.Coastweek, January 31, 2003
Seraphino Antao - Super sprinter of the sixties
/ref> He is of Asian origin (specifically

Goan Goans ( kok, गोंयकार, Romi Konkani: , pt, Goeses) is the demonym used to describe the people native to Goa, India, who form an ethno-linguistic group resulting from the assimilation of Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Indo-Portuguese, and ...

from

Chandor Chandor is a village in Salcete sub-district of South Goa, in the Indian state of Goa. It lies on the southern bank of the Zuari River and western bank of the Kushavati River. History The ancient city of Chandrapura, where Chandor now stands, s ...

)http://www.goanvoice.org.uk/supplement/SeraphinoAntao.htm

/ref> , from the low altitude coastal city of Mombasa and was a sprinter, making him an atypical Kenyan athlete.

Early career

Seraphino Antao grew up in the Ganjoni and Makupa estates of Mombasa. He is the son of Diogo Manuel and Anna Maria, has six siblings and was the neighbour of the musician and double bass player Francisco Mendes. While at Goan High School he took several sports but inclined towards short distance running. In 1957 he broke the Kenyan 100 and 220 yards records. He competed at the

1958 Commonwealth Games The 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games (Welsh: Gemau Ymerodraeth Prydain a'r Gymanwlad 1958) were held in Cardiff, Wales, from 18–26 July 1958. Thirty-five nations sent a total of 1,130 athletes and 228 officials to the Cardiff Games ...

in Cardiff, Wales, but without much success. Two years later Antao competed at the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

in Rome, Italy, where he reached the 100 metres semi finals and 200 metres second round.

Commonwealth success and later career

The 1962 Commonwealth Games in Perth, Western Australia marked the highest point of his career, when he won

100 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...

and

220 yards The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightly ...

gold medals. He was also member of the Kenyan 4 x 440 yards relay team which finished fifth. Other members of the relay team were

Wilson Kiprugut Wilson Arap Chuma Kiprugut (1938 – 1 November 2022) was a Kenyan sprinter and middle-distance runner. He competed at the 1964 Tokyo and 1968 Mexico Olympics and won two medals in the 800 metres event; in 1964 he also ran 400 metres, but fail ...

, Kimaru Songok and Peter Francis.The Standard, February 1, 2003
Antao put Kenya on world map
/ref> The same year he won two gold medals (100 and 220 yard) at the British AAA Championships, which he attended three times. He also won several gold medals at the

East and Central African Championships The East and Central African Championships was an annual international athletics competition between nations in East and Central Africa. The event was established as the East African Championships in 1955, building upon of international athletics ...

. Kenya had gained independence in December 1963 and Antao became the first Kenyan Olympic

flagbearer A standard-bearer, also known as a flag-bearer is a person (soldier or civilian) who bears an emblem known as a standard or military colours, i.e. either a type of flag or an inflexible but mobile image, which is used (and often honoured) as a f ...

at the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...

in Tokyo,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, but he was ill and did not perform as well as expected at the track. He reached the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

second round but was eliminated in the heats of the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

Sports and Elections Statistics
Men 100m Olympic Games 1964 Tokyo (JPN)
/ref> After the Olympics, he retired from the sport and moved to London, England. In 2003 he made a rare visit to Kenya attending the 50th anniversary of the Kenya Amateur Athletics Association (today Athletics Kenya).Daily Nation, January 25, 2003
Pioneer running hero back home
/ref> Seraphino Antao died on September 6, 2011, following a battle with cancer.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Antao, Seraphino 1937 births Kenyan people of Indian descent 2011 deaths Sportspeople from Mombasa Kenyan male sprinters Olympic athletes for Kenya Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Kenya Athletes (track and field) at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Kenyan people of Goan descent Medallists at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games