Athletics suffering from neglect

The 2009 International Athletics Association (IAAF) world athletics championship ended in Berlin, Germany last month with many counting their plusses chief among them Usain Bolt, of course. The 23 year old Jamaican icon may have cemented his rating as the fastest man in history by setting new records to win both the 100 and 200 metre golds, but for a certain West African country and their athletes at the same competition, there was never any joys. No. None at all. That country is called Ghana and for the umpteenth time, the nation came out from an international athletics games with no honours. Add it to the fact that Ghana has in fact never won any medals in the history of our participation in the Olympic Games, then it becomes apparent how precarious the situation is. And all in the face of Ghana having produced so many outstanding athletes over the years, Aziz Zakari, Margaret Simpson, Vida Anim, Eric Nkansah, Andrew Owusu, Francis Duodu, Leo Myles-Mills, count them, endless.

Football, boxing, hockey, rugby, even cricket and a host of several other sporting disciplines have often broken the bar and brought honour to this country in international competitions at one time or another. But not athletics, never. So what is the problem with promotion and development of athletics in Ghana then? Painstaking revelations indicate that the truth may not be too far-fetched from the sport’s non-success streaming from corporate and government neglect.

This writer was privileged enough to be at the El-Wak Park in Accra last June when President Atta Mills visited the Black Stars players in training. The national football team were preparing to travel to Sudan for the third game in the series of qualification matches to next year’s FIFA World Cup in South Africa. That the Black Stars had done so well by beating their Malian hosts in Bamako in the previous game, the visit by the President to their training was fully deserved and long overdue. The President in fact also used the opportunity to reveal to the players that he has already told Ignacio Lula Da Silva, President of Brazil that Ghana will avenge the 0-3 loss to his country when we meet in SA 2010.

Well it happened that members of Ghana’s athletics team were also training at the El-Wak Park that very day meaning the President run into them too. Mr. Atta Mills did very well to stop by and offer the athletes his and the nation’s support because as he said, all sporting disciplines had the potential to flourish on the international arena with the right incentives. It is too early so we can’t say how much action the President has turned his words into but what we all remember from that day’s interaction is that the sport wasn’t getting much of a support from the very top. The coach of the athletics team who was met by the President did not mince words on how neglected they feel citing lack of funds and facilities.

Ghana’s athletic coaches and athletes are crying foul over government and corporate neglect. They are angry that their discipline has received little or no attention at all and this has left an otherwise very talented field bare with no progress whatsoever. Most of the athletes also expressed their dissatisfaction and frustration saying they have on many an occasion had to foot their camping, training and transportation bills from their own pockets. It is not right, is it?

Such is the neglect that even the association which runs the sport in this country has rarely functioned smoothly in order. If it is not some athletes threatening to boycott the nation over unpaid allowances and plane ticket costs, then it is former athletes fighting over the topmost post at the Ghana Athletics Association (GAA). It could yet be that GAA authorities had misled the IAAF into believing things were in order in Ghana to earn grants from the world athletic supervising body. But when it comes to accounting for that same grant, conflicting reports on how it was spent is the only report you can get. Oh poor Ghana athletics!

Well the most embarrassing of all athletics’ woes came to the fore just before the Berlin world championships when the IAAF threatened to push Ghana out. The IAAF indeed banned Ghanaian athletes from taking part in the global event because of disputed elections in June which ushered in Prof Francis Dodoo as new Chairman of the Ghana Olympic Committee. The calamity was averted when the Ministry of Sports quickly stepped into negotiate with the IAAF for an agreement on a re-run of the said elections and also ensure non-government interference. That incumbent President of the GOC B T Baba is keen to retain the post must be commended for the man’s patriotism and will to serve his motherland. But if Mr. Baba remembers that he has been in the same post for longer than many could remember, wouldn’t it be enough to just say thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve you and just walk away? No, not Mr. B. T. Baba who has the support of even the Association of African National Olympic Committees (ANOCA),a body on which still retains his Executive membership.

There is no time for taking sides in this battle between two individuals who probably may never feel any real impacts of the IAAF ban if it is imposed on Ghana. This is because when the nation gets punishments as was threatened by the IAAF, it is not these individuals who call themselves our administrators who suffer but the athletes and the nation. The long term effects will be heaped on Ghanaians and not Francis Duodu or B T Baba.

Who will encourage their child to pursue their dream careers in athletics if the nation is made redundant on the international stage? It is high time we stopped this norm where people’s ambitions are used to shatter the interests and future of an entire nation, something which certainly cannot be right. Who knows the psychological and emotional effect the threat had on Vida Anim, Seth Amu, Aziz Zakari whilst preparing for the competition?

It is highly unthinkable that we are playing this game in an era where athletes have no inhibitions from switching their nationality. They can compete for Ghana today and decide to run for Burkina Faso tomorrow, yes and nobody can stop them even if they decide to switch again the very next day to France. What will happen is that Vida Anim, Aziz Zakari and the rest will have no choice than to turn their backs on their country. And after losing them all, what will then happen to the sport in this country and the futures of the many talents which continue to be unearthed and harnessed all over Ghana?

It is in this vein that we must hail the call by Mr. O.B. Amoah that all sports associations must conform to international standards and be run independently of government. Mr. Amoah is Member of Parliament for Akuapem South and immediate past Deputy Minister of Sports who was speaking at a press briefing by the Parliamentary Select Committee on Youth and Sports. Not many could have been better placed to give such advice than Hon. O. B. Amoah.

He was key in deliberations between FIFA and Ghanaian football authorities for reforms in the administration of football in this country. FIFA made it clear that the government can only play a watchdog role but leave the FA to organize and run the association and the game independent of government interference. The rule was adhered to and necessary steps taken for a GFA congress of all stakeholders to elect executive council members as well as Kwesi Nyantakyi as President. The simple message is that all other sports associations, comprising nearly thirty disciplines should also be run as the GFA so they can also enjoy smooth, competent administration.

Whether or not these associations, many of whom share offices and officers clustered within the National Sports Council offices at the Ohene Djan Stadium, enjoy the independence of the GFA is a question worth finding answers to. But there can be no margin for error. What all these associations need to actually perform adequately as befits their status are the provision of basic infrastructure and facilities for administrative as well as on-the-field work. The Cricket Association cannot claim any independence when they don’t have an office yet alone routine work plan. How about Beach Football? Yaw Ampofo Ankrah, the new boss, please sir, where are your association’s offices? Which of these associations have their own websites, newsletters, annual reports? So many questions, yet very few answers.

What is clear is that all sporting disciplines can only function properly and independently beginning with provision of basic administrative structure, equipment and infrastructure. This brings us back to the same old debate over our commitment as a nation to the development of other sports categories other than football. The Schools sports system should serve as the avenue for unearthing talents at younger ages, harness and train them to become international stars. They can do it with hardwork and provision of infrastructure and good training conditions in tandem with education on their sport and all it entails to churn out careers in it.

Scholarships for outstanding athletes must be awarded at very early ages to create the idea even in the mind of the future star. Many potential athletes have often fallen by the wayside because once they drop out of school, then the chance and opportunity for any true career enhancing competition is very minimal.

That we have to do our best to revive athletics cannot be underestimated watching the manner in which Berlin was turned into a city of Jamaica flags during the IAAF World Athletics Championships. Just one man called Usain Bolt had singlehandedly bolted his nation to the echelons of world popularity with one amazing performance after another on the track field. Usain Bolt may be running at a speed that no man ever has, the records say, but I know I have physically seen people run at faster speeds at their younger ages many a time in Ghana. “Coastal versus Inland,” the inter-schools athletics festivals for Basic Schools was called back in my village. The competition and performances in the various categories and races, never lack suspense and thrill, testimony to the vast array of talents. Talents which may have produced world class performances more than even the Usain Bolts and Tyson Gays of this world.

Though we are yet to achieve on the big stage of world athletics, nothing is still lost if we can realise what needs to be done just now so we can arrest the sorry situation of coming back from international athletics competitions empty-handed. Government support is very essential but there cannot be no denying the impact of corporate hand in the any sporting event. Big companies which pack themselves unto football platforms must see the wisdom in also threading elsewhere starting with athletics.