The 1971 Swimming Championships:

Looking back made me lose vital race

One memorable experience which I recall was at the Western State Amateur Swimming Championships that was held at the Lafia Hotel, Apata on 29th October 1971. Participants came from secondary schools and this competition had contestants from the International School of the University of Ibadan, St. Gregory's College and Kings College both in Lagos, as well as some other colleges with swimming teams.
It was the men's freestyle finals and two of the contenders were my cousin, Fynye Ekineh from St Gregory's College, some International School swimmers and my good self. I think there were three or four other swimmers for this event. However, their best time in the heats and from the elimination process did not bother me.
I was in the final lap of four (4) pool length and about three meters to the end. I tried to see who was in the adjacent lane, extending my arm to touch the wall, only to find out that my cousin, who was several palm lengths behind me and tiring was now one palm length ahead of me... all because of my action. Needless to say that he won the first place and I came in second place. I cannot now recall who came third.
We still recall that event vividly anytime we meet, Coincidentally, Fynye and I now have our residences up in the mountains in Aburi, a beautiful and picturesque location outside Accra in Ghana.