From Idi Amin to Dai Greene, Malcolm Arnold's incredible journey in the fast lane

The then 28-year-old thought it might be a different challenge, successfully applied for the job and moved there with his wife, Madelyn, and two young children, Helen and Andrew.

It proved a volatile time in the East African nation's history but it was also the making of Malcolm Arnold as a coach as he guided the legendary 400m hurdler John Akii-Bua to gold at the Munich Olympics four years later, Arnold's swansong from the post.

The year before, Idi Amin had come to power in a bloody coup. In that post 40-plus years ago, Arnold regularly rubbed shoulders with a man who went on to become one of the most infamous dictators of the 20th Century.

"I met him numerous times," said Arnold matter of factly from his altogether different base now at the University of Bath, where he coaches 400m hurdles world champion Dai Greene. "Before he took power, he was head of the army and the army team were one of the strongest in the national
athletics league.

"So every time there was a national league championship, he would come to support his team and I met him on a number of occasions. He was alright to me but I only saw the nice Idi Amin, not him in full evil mode."

Amin's purge of the Acholi and Lango ethnic groups in particular led to the death of about half-a-million people, according to Amnesty International.

"The worst of the happenings came after the Munich Olympics," said Arnold, who knew of people in the athletics community in Uganda who went missing. "The chairman of our AAAs was also the deputy commissioner of prisons but he was also from the wrong tribe. He and his family just disappeared one day."

By the time the Munich Games came, Arnold and his family had already packed up ready to return to the UK.Arnold went back to Uganda four years ago as part of a BBC documentary on Akii-Bua and still holds fond memories. He said: "It was a great time. I came across a lot of good athletes but there were two or three coups during our time there and you could say it was probably not particularly safe any more, especially with a young family."

The 71-year-old's life is in complete contrast to back then. Nowadays, he lives in a small village in Bath just around the corner from Greene, the athlete he hopes will give him another Olympic gold 40 years on from the first.

But Arnold himself has not changed. He still talks about athletics with youthful exuberance and it is clear he feeds off Greene and some of the other younger, upcoming athletes in his group like European Under-23 400m hurdle champion Jack Green and the Eton educated 110m hurdler Lawrence Clarke.

Arnold likes to cultivate the image of being a sourpuss and one journalist after the World Athletics Championships likened him to a cross between Albus Dumbledore and Victor Meldrew. The comparison is quite apt. It's not that he is stuck in his ways, it's just that he's a "traditional, old-fashioned coach".

He occasionally forgets where we are in conversation but when it comes to the athletics, he is still razor sharp.

"I've got a bit of a one-track mind and it's just athletics," he said. "I love working with young athletes and achieving their potential. We're here to win medals and, if you're not winning medals, you're not earning your corn."

Last year, Arnold's athletes won five championship medals in all, the highlight being Greene's gold in Daegu.

He added: "I remember he was well back at hurdle eight but I knew he was coming into his good part of the race. I knew someone was going to have to do something very special to be him."

As for Greene's chances for 2012, Arnold believes they are good. Two-time 400m hurdle Olympic champion Ed Moses recently said that Greene needed to improve his speed to have any chance of winning gold. And Arnold's response? "Every athlete has weaknesses but in two years Dai's gone from 49.5 seconds to 48.5 which isn't too bad, is it?"

Arnold insists he has no favourite athletes but occasionally describes Colin Jackson as "one of the best I've ever worked with". Greene also falls into that category - the pair's characters as well as their approaches to training seem to complement each other.

"Dai's a very laconic character and we both have a very strong sense of irony," said Arnold. As for 2012, Arnold is excited as much as he is about any upcoming season. "It's this year's big competition that so happens to be in London but that doesn't mean we have to be more serious about it," he said.

It is some time since Arnold gave up on his own sporting prowess. Back in 1962, he was the fourth-ranked triple jumper in Britain and also played football semi-professionally.

He won't admit it but he might just be at the happiest point in his career. The set-up he has in Bath is bringing results which is the key for UK Athletics chief Charles van Commenee. He has been known to be something of a rottweiler but, when you've worked with dictators in the past, that's nothing.