Our declining fortunes at the Olympics

E. Ablorh-Odjidja
August 14, 2012

The Olympics is a good place to start judging the rise and fall of a nation’s character and much more. While at it, you will also be able to deduce that a nation that fails to build on past achievements is certain and most likely to be the first in none, regardless of the field of endeavor.

So was the story for Ghana writ large at the London 2012 Olympics. But who in the country would care?

The team that represented Ghana at the games consisted of nine athletes and 14 officials. On arrival in London, two athletes were suspended from the games on medical grounds. Astonishingly, one was a boxer with a broken jaw, sustained in a contest the month before the games.

Ghana’s first* presence (the Gold Coast as it was then known) at the Olympics was in the summer games of Helsinki 1952.

With the exceptions of 1976 and 1980, when boycotts against New Zealand and Russia were respectively taken, Ghana has always been present at these games; with diminishing results in achievement at every ensuing stage.

The 60s, however, were banner years for sports in Ghana, including the Olympics. In Rome in 1960, Ike Quartey, a boxer, won the first silver medal for the country.

The Commonwealth Games, a separate international sporting event for English-speaking countries, also had a similar story about the 60s in Ghana.

The most medal counts for Ghana at these Commonwealth games were attained in Perth, Australia, 1962 (9 medals) and in Kingston, Jamaica 1966 (9 medals).

In Kingston 1966, the team of E. C. O. Addy, Stan Allotey, J. Addy, and B. K. Mends won gold medals in the 4 x 110 yards (4 X 100 meters) race with a time of 39.8 sec; within a fraction of a second from breaking the world record which then stood at 39.06 for that event, set by the United States in Tokyo 1964.

E. C. O. Addy, a former national sprinter, told this writer how he was recruited at Fijai Secondary School in 1961 and didn’t know before then that he was gifted as a sprinter.

Yet by 1966, Addy the sprinter novice, and his mates were on the world stage in Kingston, having smashed the Commonwealth record competing in and with a country like Jamaica that years later was to produce sprint legends; the likes of Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake.

At the 1966 games, Jamaica, by the way, came second behind Ghana in the 4 x 110 yards relay in Kingston. Overall, Ghana placed 5th and Jamaica the 16th in medal rankings at the games.

At the recent London 2012 Olympics, however, Jamaica would win the 4 X 100 meters relay, setting a new world record in 36.84 seconds; some 2.96 seconds faster than Addy and teammates in Kingston, 1966.

Jamaica has improved, and Ghana has not, as shown in London.

Kingston 1966 was a good 46 years away from London in 2012, with enough time to prepare and gradually improve. Jamaica’s assault on the world record in the 4 X 100 meters race in London was an evidentiary statement on the character of this small island nation – discipline and readily building on the athletic talents that it had. Ghana, the grasshopper nation, went to sleep on its talents.

Since 1966, Jamaica has used the sports process to ignite the athleticism of her sons and daughters. Its athletes have gained both international fame and respect and so has the little nation of Jamaica.

Can the same be said for Ghana?

For answers, start with the star athletes of the 60s. They were faster than the Jamaicans but where are these athletes now and what use have we made of their reputes and experiences?

Many of these athletes are still with us. Addy, Ahay, and others live in Ghana. Stan Allotey lives in the US.

In 1966, Allotey won the gold in 200 meters at Kingston and was listed that same year as the third fastest in the 200 meters, behind Tommie Smith and Jim Hines of the USA.

Also living in the US is the lady athlete Ms. Alice Anum, who collected two silvers and a bronze in two Commonwealth Games, Edinburg 70 (100 & 200 meters) and Christchurch 74 (200 meters).

It could be useful if these medaled athletes of international fame had been utilized in the administration and building of the sports culture for the country like others nations did after 1966.

These famous athletes could have served as role models for budding athletes in the regions and schools. Instead, they have been simply forgotten.

The same is true for other fields. Professional soccer players and elite world-class professional boxers are shunted aside once their useful days are gone.

There is the story of former world champion Azumah Nelson, a Hall of Famer and famously known as the professor in international professional boxing circles, predicting before London 2012 that Ghanaian boxers would not win a single medal. We could have asked why and then been schooled by him.

Instead, Azunah’s prediction was greeted with derision from some quarters.

It should be no mystery that Ghana would slide into oblivion while Jamaica could grow into a mighty Olympic nation if our famed athletes are denied input in the game. That a famed athlete like the professor of boxing, Azumah Nelson, could be derided on the merits of boxing by folks of lesser and no talent must spell doom for the sport of boxing in Ghana.,

Considering first that both Jamaicans and Ghanaians come from the same gene pool, it should be proper to ask why they are doing well in the sprint races than we are. Add the fact that we have a population base of 25 million and Jamaica has about 3 million people and it becomes necessary to question why the lag in Olympic performances at the sprint races.

Even the smaller nations of Grenada and Trinidad & Tobago, the same gene pool as Ghana, much smaller in population size, had between them five medals in 2012; one was gold for Grenada in the 400 meters.

Just one medal for Ghana in 2012 would have been enough to build a future athletic reputation for the country. So, why where went the effort?

An honest response would be to place the blame for Ghana’s lack of achievement on the dedication of her officials. Their mindset of selfishness and insular thinking have brought achievements and fame in the game of sports to a standstill.

Most sports achievements came during the 60s. And it took a conscious effort to produce the result that Ghana had. It was spearheaded by the Center of Organization for Sports (COS), under the leadership of Mr. Ohene Djan.

Like him or not, Ohene Djan created a sports administration that brought young athletes from secondary schools at regional levels to the fore of national and international sports competitions.

He had in place a system that gave budding athletes the chance to justify their inclusion at select sports’ meets. Within five years, young E. C. O. Addy was a star and had international athlete fame.
Before Eddie Blay, a boxer from the Central Region won his bronze at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, he had to battle first hardened local boxers, like Ago Welbeck much to the trill of boxing fans at the Sports Hall at the Accra Stadium. Had Blay suffered from a broken jaw, he would not have shown up at the Olympics. Sheer sport’s discipline would have demanded that under Ohene Djan.
Ohene Djan’s administration was such that it supported sporting activities from all the regions. Athletes from the regions got the chance to compete, resulting in happy and proud moments for Ghana.

The absence of a system for nationwide recruitment, and training, the deficiency of experienced officials and sports facilities, lack of funding, and administrative know-how foretold the outcome years before 2012.

And, Professor Azumah Nelson knew it before it happened!

The lesson in all this is the lack of character and discipline of our nation that has been on global display throughout the years since the 60s.

And it is not the fault of our athletes in London 2012 that we came up empty. It is the fault of a system that we have been nursing for years. One that promotes politics and rewards, meritless cronies. Hence, the mediocrity!

E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Publisher www.ghanadot.com, Washington, DC, August 14, 2012.

Permission to publish: Please feel free to publish or reproduce, with credits, unedited. If posted on a website, email a copy of the web page to publisher@ghanadot.com. Or don't publish at all.

*Publisher's Note: A reader, Mr. Percy Bonney-Andrews of the UK, brought to our attention that Ghana's (then the Gold Coast) first participation in the Olympics was not in 1952, but in "1948 Olympic Games held in London (White City Stadium)".

The publisher is inclined to believe the point raised is valid. The Olympics Museum, however, does not list this point. Please check: http://olympic-museum.de/part_count/1948.htm and help to bring this matter to the attention of the Ghana Olympic Committee.

Mr. Bonney-Andrews lists the athletes represented at the 1948 Olympic Games as Messrs AO Lawson (Sprinter), G. S Laryea (Sprinter), Oswald Amaning (Huddler), A. A Kwofie (long-distance runner), Van Dyke (High Jumper), and another Laryea (Long Jumper). He adds "I am unaware whether they returned home with a medal or not, but I hope this information will help you amend your records."

He also adds the following names as participants: "Two other athletes who attended the 1948 Olympic Games held in London (White City Stadium) have come to mind. They are Messrs Saka Akwei and J. K Owusu but I am not sure of the events in which they took part. Saka Akwei, an old student of Achimota became a Sculpltor in later life, and J. K Owusu was a Policeman."

The mystery is why Ghana (or the Gold Coast) is not on the Olympics Museum's list as a participant in 1948. Are our sports governing bodies aware of the neglect and is this how best they think to serve the memory of our athletes and legends of history; and consequently, our country?