Ghana Finishes with Four medals: Owusu Earns Silver

Ghana earned its fourth medal this past weekend when Andrew Owusu finished second in the men’s triple jump at the just concluded African Championships. Olivier Sanou from Burkina Faso prevailed despite being pushed to the limit by Owusu during the dramatic triple jump competition. Olivier won the competition with a jump of 17.06 meters (personal best) over Owusu who jumped 17.02 meters, his longest jump under and condition in the past three years.

About the competition, Owusu said that, he expected Olivier to be his biggest obstacle but did not expect that both of them would have had to jump as far as they did to vie for a spot on Africa’s world cup (athletics) team. “Olivier, deserved to win” said Owusu, “he responded very well to my opening jump of 16.77 meters by jumping a season best and breaking the 17.00 meter barrier for the first time in his life”.

“I have known Olivier for the past four years and on Saturday, I witnessed him come of age. I do not feel defeated but rather happy that he brought the best out of me just as I did of him”. In fact, Owusu may be partly responsible for Oliver having come this far. In 1998, in Dakar, Senegal, when Owusu set the current Championship record at 17.23 meters, he gave pair of triple jump shoes to Olivier who was just beginning the event.

Despite the fact that not all of our medal hopefuls were able, to compete in Tunis due to the late acquisition of airline tickets from Ghana, those who made it to Tunis on time have made us proud. Margaret Simpson – Gold, heptathlon; Georgina Sowah, Vida Bruce, Gifty Addy, Isha Pinnamang – Bronze, 4X100m relay; Aziz Zakari – Silver, 200m; Andrew Owusu – Silver, triple jump.