Beijing08: Trust Ghana to learn nothing

Veteran Sports Journalist Kwabena Yeboah, has lamented Ghana’s poor preparation towards the Beijing Olympics and said it reflected in the poor results.

Ghana fielded nine athletes; six boxers and three field & track accompanied by 13 officials, but failed to bag any medal whatsoever from the 16-days sporting fiesta that closed on Sunday, and Kwabena Yeboah, Editor of Africa Sports newspaper, told Joy FM he has very little doubt anything will change for the better in terms of planning towards the next Olympics.

“I really have my doubts, and I say this because, to be honest with you this is not the first time we’ve attended the Olympics …we’ve attended the Olympics a couple of times and we seem to be repeating the same errors.”

While congratulating Ghana’s “sportsmen and women who had the guts, the audacity, the temerity to go out there and amidst all the debilitating problems to go and compete with the best in the world,” The Writer, as he is commonly called by his colleagues, said it is unwholesome for any official to attempt to chide or condemn the athletes for the dismal showing.

“I think the truth of the matter is that our officials tend to place too much premium on football, there is no doubt about the fact that football is the passion of the nation, but I think that we must make a quick determination and decide whether we want to play football alone to the neglect of all the other disciplines. To be honest with you I want to believe that if football had qualified to the Olympics, our attitude would have been entirely different, you know. It’s very, very shameful and it’s very disheartening that for example, when Vida Anim started complaining you heard some officials come out to try and demonize and deny entirely and what did they say, they said they had paid her all her expenses. And how much did they pay for her kit, $500 for her kit for an Olympic Games. This is unbelievable and for an athlete who has camped for over six months $3,500 paid by officials and they thought that was sufficient and adequate enough to send her out there to go and win medals?”

An unenthused Kwabena Yeboah told Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah on the Super Morning Show that he was really disgusted by pre-Olympic pledges by officials to reward any of the athletes who won a gold medal at the Olympics with $20,000.

“If they had that kind of money, I thought that it should have gone into their preparations. These are athletes and sportsmen who were not even camping, these are athletes who were using their meager resources out there training on their own trying to make the qualifying time, the least they needed from us was the financial support which was not forthcoming. I say this because if it was football our attitude would be entirely different.”

Kwabena Yeboah called for sustained pressure on the authorities to remind them that football is not the only sport in the country and also make them accountable. Again, for an entire nation without a single gymnasium, there must be a re-look at infrastructure development while the existing but dilapidated facilities should be upgraded.

“2012 is just around the corner. If we intend to make an impression in London, 2012, we need to tap the talents right now, we need to start preparing right now. China did not achieve that excellence by accident, they started preparing long ago.”

Host China bagged a total of 100 medals, made up of 51 Gold, 21 Silver and 28 Bronze, followed by the United States with 36 Gold, 38 Silver and 36 Bronze while Russia came third with 23 Gold, 21 Silver and 28 Bronze.

Kenya and Ethiopia led Africa’s charge at the Games, finishing at the 15th and 18th positions. Kenya bagged 5 Gold, 5 Silver and 4 Bronze while Ethiopia 4 Gold, 1 Silver and 2 Bronze medals.