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).
By: Frank Darkwah
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