Athletics: Correction to Inaccurate Statements

Ghana Athletes Association would like to point out the inaccuracies that appeared in two recent articles on Ghanaweb, with regard to citations made about medals won by athletes in the last (1999) All-African Games and the 2002 African Championships.

The first error appeared in the article titled “Let’s Plan ahead” (Sports News) on 12th December 2002. The writer states that during the 1999 All-African Games, “Ghana nearly lost the only gold medal she won because of Leo Myles-Mills's threat to pull out of the 100m race minutes before the competition…” The truth is that Ghana did not win only one gold medal. Ghana won two gold medals. Leo Myles-Mills won the first in the 100 meters and Andrew Owusu won Ghana’s second gold medal of the games in the triple Jump.

The second error appeared in the article titled “Politicization of sports by sports minister” (Sports News) on 1st January 2003. In it, the writer states, “Ghana returned from the African Championships in athletics with two silver medals in the 100 and 200 meters by Aziz Zakari while Simpson won gold in the same event.” In fact, Aziz Zakari did not compete in the 100 meters (though he did win silver in 200m). Also, Ghana won a total of four medals, not three, as the article suggests; the third and fourth medals came in the triple jump by Andrew Owusu (silver) and in the women’s 4x100m, in which four home-based sprinters won a bronze medal.