C'wealth Games Bombshell: Athlete Screams FOUL!

I read today with utter surprise about the statement made by Dr Owusu Ansah regarding the short list of people that they (International Games Management Committee) have ear marked for this year’s Commonwealth games in Manchester. How many more times would these irrational selections go on?

Have learn anything from our past mistakes? Once again here is a clear example of how Ghana’s scarce resources is about to be wasted

I am an athlete who has watched with disdain the management of Ghanaian sports for a long time and trust me it is pathetic. I am curious to know which IAAF rankings list the Dr. got his ranking of Abu Duah and Harry Adu Mfum from. These guys do not come in the top 15 in Africa let alone be ranked even in the top 100 in the world. Kenneth Adam has not competed this year (2002) and so has Aziz Zakari. However, Aziz Zachari was our best athlete last year and though he purposely chose to start competing late this year, he is a proven winner. But in God’s name, how long will Ghana go without a selection criteria for these games? I am currently ranked as number 11 in the world in the 200m with a time of 20.48 seconds (season list of the IAAF and if there are any doubters please check www.iaaf.org).

In addition, I have best time (10.24 secs) in the 100m for any Ghanaian sprinter this year, yet my name was not mentioned in the list.

Am I not a Ghanaian? Or do I not bleed enough RED, YELLOW and GREEN? Andrew Owusu is ranked 8th in the world in the triple jump, the highest world ranking of a Ghanaian so far this season, yet his name was not mentioned either. Why, is it because he has been so critical of the way athletics is being run? Samuel Okantey jumped 16.80m indoor but he was not mentioned either. How long are we going to base selection of teams on not just last year’s performance and whomever these officials like instead of current performance?

The Commonwealth Games is only three months away, and yet, the GAAA and the athletics Coach are yet to reveal the selection criteria. Miraculously, or by design, athletes have already been picked. One would think that the GAAA would have at least sent out a letter to all foreign-based athletes detailing its plans for this year. Again, by design (what else?) not a single athlete has been contacted. Not even AZIZ ZAKARI, yes not even Aziz. To set the record straight, Aziz has stated his opinion that a fair selection criteria should be used, in order to ensure that all athletes get a fair chance to compete.

How much of the ear marked money will go to paying for tickets for officials? Why could we not get sponsorship from Nike, Adidas, Puma, and Reebok etc? Why do we have to spend money on the Kits when we could have gotten them free? For those not aware, help was offered on this sponsorship issue. Yet, it was conveniently refused through inaction. Letters were sent to the GAAA and to the minister of sports on this issue of sponsorship yet, nothing was done. I would like to ask the respectable Dr. Owusu Ansah how he and his group of officials are preparing these athletes he short-listed for the games? Has he contacted Aziz? Has he contacted Andam? If he had, he would have known that none of them has competed yet. Though Aziz will be starting his season in Osaka, Japan next month, our officials should know that it is very demoralizing and inappropriate to select athletes –even if you think they will be the best this year- before they actually compete.

Well Ladies and gentlemen you are the jury, tell me if Ghana sports is heading the right way? You all wonder why we never win any medals or why we have not been to the world cup yet. This is a classic example of it. Total mismanagement and misrepresentation of facts to further hidden agendas.

Ladies and gentlemen, the REAL facts are below. Names with * indicate those selected by Dr. Owusu-Ansah

• Samuel Okantey--Triple Jump--Ranked 20th in the world (indoor 2002)
• Andrew Owusu --Triple Jump --Ranked 8th in the world (outdoor as of 17/04/2002)
• Christian Nsiah--100m, 200m-----Ranked 19th and 13th respectively (as of 17/04/2002)
• Monica Twum--100m, 200m-----Ranked 33rd in the world, 100m (as of 17/04/2002)
• Adu Duah*--100m, 200m --Name does not appear on the IAAF rankings (top 50)
• *Harry Adu-Mfum--100m, 200m --Name does not appear on the IAAF rankings (top 50)
• *Kenneth Andam---100m, 200m --Has not competed this year, Name not on world list
• *Aziz Zakari --100m, 200m-----Has not competed this year (starts in May in Osaka, Japan)
• Vida Anim* --100m, 200m --Not listed on IAAF website (but has a hand time of 11.00)
• Margaret Simpson*—Javelin -- Not in the top 40 in the world
• Margaret Simpson*—Heptathlon --Has not competed yet this year

For those detectives interested in find out the truth for themselves, please visit the following sites for verification of the above information

• http://www.tilastopaja.net/top20.asp (outdoor 2002)
• Outdoor 2002
• Indoor 2002
• http://www.iaaf.org/Results/index.asp?Filename=/Results
• http://www.ghanaathletics.com (site created by Ghanaian foreign-based athletes)

These same IAAF rankings list is where Dr Owusu-Ansah claims to have made his selection from. Therefore, how come the other athletes, who are currently ranked higher than all those mentioned were not selected? The old excuse of “they did not send in their results” cannot be used because obviously these results are available to the world on the IAAF website of which Dr Owusu-Ansah claims he has access.

This makes some of me rethink the old song “arise Ghana youth for your country, the nation demands your devotion”. I tell you one thing, my fellow athletes and I are totally devoted but we need help. Wake up Oman Ghana wake up Ghanaians, for whatever happens to our nation is our own doing. I hope somebody somewhere comes up with a transparent selection criterion, against which our performances can be evaluated i.e. by the tape measure and the stopwatch.

The worst thing is for us to waste our time and become top-notch athletes only to be ignored by our country. I remember very well that the Chief Coach once stated that they are going to use the internet to monitor our performances, what happened to that idea? Even worse, the foreign-based athletes created a website (www.ghanaathletics.com) this year to address the problem of performance reporting. Performances by Ghanaian athletes are updated on that site every week (courtesy of Andrew Owusu).

Australia has already conducted its trials for the games and they are set to go. Ghana on the other hand is yet to announce its selection criteria. Tell me, how do we compete against countries such Australia and our neighbor Nigeria who have well-established selection criteria and will be represented by the best they have?