A section of Ghanaian contingent at the 2012 London Olympics games.
The story of Ghana Athletics has been one of a kind.Athletics,way back was seen as one of the sports that sold Ghana to the outside world.Ghana could boast of great Athletes such as Rose Heart,Mike Ahey,Leonard Myles-Mills,Eric Nkansah,Emmanuel Tuffour,Vida Nsiah etc.But it seems Ghana Athletics has gone down the drain over the last decades.
I will like to begin this piece with the story of long jumper Ignisious Gaisah before tackling other issues.Gaisah,who was Ghana's all time best long jumper without any doubts is now seen in the colors of the Netherlands.One will strongly bare with me that Ghana had never won any medal in long jump till 2003 when Gaisah won Gold at the All African games in Nigeria in 2003.In 2005 he also won silver for Ghana at the World Championship in Helsinki.Went on to win Gold at the World Indoor Championship,Commonwealth games and African Championship respectively.After all these success Gaisah chopped for Ghana,we couldnt hold up to such a great talent only to loose him to a western country(Netherlands).Oh!Ghana.We must all bow our heads in shame.I was very sad but happy when i saw the 30 year old from Tafo in the Ashanti region win silver at the IAFF Championship in Moscow(Russia),but did that in the colors of the Netherlands.
Ghana's lone representative,Janet Amponsah must be the saddest in that same competition after the young Athlete finished bottom in her heat in the womens 200 meters event.We must be joking if we expected young Janet to be first and probably win a medal.Where was the motivation?How many of her compartriots were there to cheer her up?In that same competition, we saw the names of our fellow African nations on the medal table.Talk of Kenya and Ethiopia who dominated the long distance events through out the competition,as well as our own neighbouring countries Ivory Coast and Nigeria who were also seen on the medal table by vertue of the womens 100 and 200 meters events.South Africa on the other hand did a yoeman job in the field events.We are not yet really sure of what is happening to our top athletes such as Marget Simpson,Vida Anim,Aziz Zakari etc and others who in recent times made Ghana happy with their splendid performances at international level.
I keep on asking myself what is really going wrong.It has been the same old financial constriants.I quiet remember the current present of the Ghana Athletics Association (GAA),proffessor Francis Dodoo prior to his election made mention of the fact that the Association was not only going to depend on the government for assistance but also try to do their best to involve corperate entities for to assist them..Mr Kwasi Nyantekyi who is the president of the Ghana football Association does not only depend on government for support but also try to get corperate entities like Guiness,Glo,GNPC etc to come to their aid.That is the business we are talking about.No wonder the black stars keep on performing.
Many people have however attributed the sinking nature Ghana athletics to the banned imposed on us by the International Olympic Commitee (IOC) who controls 252 federation .Well!that might be a factor though,but will not buy that as the major factor.Even with the banned imposed on us at that time,how many times did we organize athletics event in the country to spot more talents.Apart from the Accra Milo marathon organized annually,there is no other event.Even the recent widely advertised National Unity games/sports festival could not take place with so many excuses from officials.
The issue of motivation is also a major factor as just recently 16 student from deprived communities got full Sports Scholarship to study in the USA through the Ghana Athletics Association ,of which each of them needs $2,500 to buy air tickets so they begin tuition and training.Government has been unable to give them the money.Lets not forget this young athletes will some day represent Ghana at international level,if possible the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.Just few weeks ago,the secretary of the Association,Mr.Bawa Fusieni said on radio XYZ, a local radio station based in Accra that the GAA is very broke that they do not even have a dollar.Lack of support from the ministry has made them handicap to organize the annual athletics championships this year.He said the federation haven't had any major support for almost two years and this year is not an exception.
What is really happening?Many African countries that trailed us on any field are just wondering what is really ailing our Land,for one could not imaging this low level of standard we have sunk into.
Oh!Mother Ghana,lets all stand up and rise Ghana Athletics back to it's feet "A word to the wise they say is enough).
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