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Joe Atuhaire

Joe Atuhaire
Personal information
Full name Joe Atuhaire
National team  Uganda
Born (1978-05-15) 15 May 1978 (age 39)
Kampala, Uganda
Height 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Weight 66 kg (146 lb)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes Breaststroke

Joe Atuhaire (born May 15, 1978) is a Ugandan former swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. He represented Uganda at the 2000 Summer Olympics, finishing sixty-fifth in the 100 m breaststroke. Shortly after the Games, Atuhaire's swimming career had been overshadowed with criminal charges when he was arrested and charged with rape, and held for a month before the charges were dropped.

Atuhaire competed for Uganda in the men's 100 m breaststroke at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. He received a Universality place from FINA, in an entry time of 1:10.00. He participated in heat one against two other swimmers Antonio Leon of Paraguay and Kieran Chan of Papua New Guinea. He rounded out a small field of three to last place in a time of 1:22.35, the slowest to be recorded in the heats by over seven seconds. Facinet Bangoura recorded an even slower time in the following heat, but was disqualified. Atuhaire failed to advance into the semifinals, as he placed sixty-fifth overall on the first day of prelims, more than 21 seconds behind the top-seeded swimmer and eventual Olympic champion Domenico Fioravanti of Italy.

Four days after the swimming competition, while still in Sydney, Atuhaire was arrested and charged with raping a seventeen-year-old girl near the main Olympic athlete's village. Charges were later dropped without explanation.New Vision, a major newspaper in Uganda used the case to complain lack of discipline is "he single big reason why our sportsmen have failed to achieve any recognisable success. Sportsmen are the country's ambassadors internationally, and it is about time they behaved," The paper went on to complain the Ugandan Olympic panel selects "tourist friendly athletes who are 'not genuine sportsmen.New Vision later commented the case could have broader negative implications toward the country's marketability. The case was used as a warning for future Ugandan athletes traveling to Australia for the 2006 Commonwealth Games.


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Wikipedia

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