The event which runs from August 4 to August 23 this year has already given highlights which will go down in the history books of athletics.
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3 things to note in team Ghana's performances so far
Pulse Sports' Kwaku Anno-Kumi takes a critical look at Team Ghana's performance at the on-going IAAF Championships in London.
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It represented the Championship where British long distance great Mohammed Farah bowed out in amazing fashion, as he grabbed the ultimate in the 10,000 meters men’s final.
This was also followed by Jamaican star Usain Bolt ending his career in a lukewarm manner, settling for third place as longtime nemesis Justin Gatlin picked up the gold. American sensation Christian Coleman came up second.
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For Ghana, despite the event being a remarkable one, the story has not been any different from previous ones.. Ghana sent eight athletes to compete for the event. They were Emmanuel Dassor (400m), Alex Amankwah (800m), and Nadia Eke (Triple Jump) who participated in the individual events.
Persis William-Mensah, Akua Obeng Akrofi, Gemma Acheampong and Flings Owusu Agyapong formed the 4x100 women’s relay team.
Ghana’s involvement in the occasion started on the 2nd day of the event, while Dassor did not start in a 400m Heat 6 event due to knee injury.
African triple jump champion Nadia Eke was next up. She did participate in Group B of the qualifying round but finished 12th on that same dreaded day. These were indications that things were not to go the way of Ghana at the IAAF Championships.
The woes continued, with Alex Amankwah's run in heat 4 of the 800 meter race. The long distance runner for the University of Alabama also failed to make the cut, and could came in 4th with the time of 1:47:56.
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This is the state of Ghana Athletics. The one sporting discipline which seems to have a lot of potential in the areas of second cycle and University Sports but flatters to deceive.
Below are three take aways from Team Ghana's performance so far:
A roadmap must be drawn by the state
The cliché which goes like “failing to plan is planning to fail” is one that cannot be taken lightly. Over the years in sports development especially in Athletics, planning has always been key. Ghana has been to the Olympic Games even before the nation attained independence. Then called the Gold Coast, the nation made its first representation in 1952 and 65 years on the nation has attained just four medals. One silver and two bronze medals coming by way of boxing, and another bronze medal from football. There has been none from the discipline of athletics. Sports ministers keep on changing but no concrete plan has been followed with regards to the field of athletics. The story has not changed with athletics, yet we keep on splashing cash to cater for air fares and per diems and expect medals in return.
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The GAA strategy has not brought enough returns
The Ghana Athletics Association (GAA) cannot be begrudged with regards to mapping out plans for Ghana Athletics. The Association comes out with a calendar every year of trying to organize championships across the country.
The limitation has been the bane of every other sport in Ghana aside national team football. The lesser-financed sport are indeed not supported adequately. Funding has been the main problem, and will continue to be, for some time to come from the look of things.
The GAA’s trump card looking at the problem of funding athletics has been to get good athletes in the country scholarships to go to universities abroad and compete. The strategy has achieved the purpose of having athletes to participate in these championships. That has been the only success the strategy has chalked. Participation and personal best is the mantra as the athletes cannot still adequately prepare for these championships.
The athletes manage to compete week in week out at the various national championships with the hope that they may find themselves abroad. However, there is always a two month period where there is no action for athletes in to compete in.
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This is to help athletes prepare for these championships coming up with their national coaches as well as offer a resting period. On the contrary, what the two months period does to athletes is offer nothing but rest.
From the interview Alex Amankwah granted after his 800m race, he did say that it had been a while since he raced and he did feel it in his legs. This has been the problem of a number of athletes which are not able to represent Ghana to the best.
Infrastructure is a necessity
The problem for a number of sporting discipline has always been infrastructure. Among the 10 regions in Ghana there are 5 regions where we have state tartan tracks being used regularly. They are in Greater Accra, Ashanti, Northern Region, Western Region and Central Region.
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This shows there is a lot to be done in terms of infrastructural development. A lot needs to be done with in concerns to that aspect. The state of some of these tracks are indeed quite appalling. This accounts for athletes’ inability to prepare adequately for these championships.
Due to the low standards in infrastructure, the Ghana Athletics Association try to get athletes to prepare and camp athletes abroad. There was an arrangement to camp athletes for the 2017 IAAF championships. The General Secretary of the GAA Bawa Fuseini confirmed that there were no funds to get that plan implemented.
Going forward, the state must collaborate with the Athletics Federation to organise local events for athletes. This will go on to gain proceeds for the state and in the long term gather funds to at least improve on the existing infrastructure. This solves the three problems with Ghana Athletics stated.
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