Jacob Araptany was the youngest competitor to represent Uganda in the athletics discipline at the London Olympics, aged 18. He had not participated in any previous Olympic Games. Araptany had intended to take part in the men's 1500 metres and the men's 3000 metres steeplechase, but after consultation with the Ugandan coach, he elected to participate in the latter event because of the close time frame between the two events. He qualified for the Games because his fastest time of 8 minutes, 14.48 seconds, set at the 2011 Golden Gala, exceeded the required "A" standard entry time. He was drawn in the second heat on 3 August, finishing seventh out of twelve runners, with a time of 8 minutes, 35.85 seconds. Araptany finished 25th out of 37 competitors overall, and failed to go through to the final because his time was 6.73 slower than the slowest runner in his heat who made the later stages.