Career
He was then selected to run in the 1968 Olympic team for Rhodesia, along with fellow Zimbabwean, Bernard Dzoma, but this team was not allowed to compete in the Olympic Games since Rhodesia did not allow black Africans to vote in national elections. Kanda running experiences during this time are detailed by his Australian coach, John Cheffers, in his book: A Wilderness of Spite. Cheffers felt that Kanda was a medal hope in the Mexican Olympic marathon.
Considering that both races were at significant altitude (with the Libanon Mine Track closer to the 7382 feet of Mexico City) Kanda was well conditioned for running at Mexico City.
His Bulawayo time would have taken 6th in the Mexico Olympic marathon. A 2001 article by the Bulawayo Chronicle summarizes Kanda"s running career and has an account of his running career in his own words.
Concerning his young life: "We traveled long distances to school and as herd-boys. Endurance became more like an in-born thing and club coaches, later in my life, came in with handy hints.
But in all I worked hard for my glory.
lieutenant did not come easy and I was blessed in that I did not drink or smoke which gave me ample time to concentrate in the sport." Kanda"s training in the early 1960s involved waking up at 3:00am, going for a training run, then jogging to work (at the Bulawayo City Council), and then going for a training run after work. He was the subject of a photograph taken by David Paynter in 1968 which became the Associated Press June 1968 "". In the photograph, Kanda is seen running against a train.
This photograph has been referenced several times by other photographers and sign designers since 1968.
The 26 July 1968 Life Magazine published this picture on page 30. Kanda died on 30 October 2009 after a long illness.
