Ghana was once a force to reckon with, in the Track and Field (athletics) events, in Africa and the Commonwealth. In the All-African Games which first started in 1965, Ghana has won 95 medals in total (29 gold, 35 silver, 31 bronze) in athletics, to date.
In the Commonwealth Games which Ghana, then Gold Coast, first entered in 1954, Ghana has won 24 medals (4 gold, 8 silver and 12 bronze) in athletics, to date. With the Olympics Games, none of Ghana’s five medals won so far, 1 silver and four bronze, were from athletics. They were from boxing and soccer.
In the Olympics Track and Field, the name Alice Annum, now aged 75 years, is celebrated, for making it to the finals of both women’s 100m and 200m, in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games and finishing sixth and seventh, respectively.
Ghana’s opportunity to have won gold in the Olympics Games came in the 1980 Moscow Games. But because of the Soviet’s invasion of Afghanistan, US led 66 other countries to boycott the games, in what the International Olympics Committee (IOC) protested, claiming that the “pressures by the US and other supporting countries for the boycott were an inappropriate means to achieve a political end, and the victims of this action would be the athletes.”
Ghana joined eighteen other African countries to boycott the games and it was indeed a Ghanaian athlete who became a victim. His name was Ernest Ahwireng Obeng. He fell victim twice, in 1980 and 1984, as was well documented in the September 17, 1984 edition of the Talking Drums.
Prior to the 1980 Olympics, Ernest persistently beat Britain’s Alan Wells, returning a time of 10.21 seconds. Ghana boycotted the games, but Britain participated and Allan Wells went on to win gold in 100m with a time of 10.25 sec.
Ernest Obeng’s story, is noted more of opportunities he missed to compete in major international contests, including the 1980 and 1984 Olympics.
With the Moscow Games, Ghana stood firmly among African nations that chose to follow the USA, United Kingdom and others who called out for the boycott. However, in partial support of the American-led boycott, the UK government allowed its athletes to choose whether to compete.
There was a boycott of the opening ceremony with Britain being represented solely by the General Secretary of the British Olympic Association, Dick Palmer, carrying the Olympic flag, and no athletes being present. Furthermore, the Olympic flag was raised for the British medal winners in place of the Union Flag, and the Olympic anthem was played instead of God Save the Queen for the five gold medallists.Ghana could have done the same and come home with at least one gold.
The most heart-breaking and traumatising moments for any sports man or woman, is when competitions they have prepared for, are cancelled. No one can describe how an athlete feels in such moments. That is why, politicians who go ahead to take such decisions, break the hearts of sports folks.
Sports and games bring about absolute peace and unity much easier than peace-talks held by politicians.
Ernest’s other major problem was the long-standing argument with Ghanaian athletics officials over his suitability to compete for his motherland.
This clash is something that exists within the sports in Ghana. On most occasions, officials feel they must be worshipped by the athletes and would go as far as even wrongly penalising those they do not like. Those the officials cannot stand most, are sports men and women who come from affluent backgrounds. They are considered softies and when they excel, the officials just do not like it.
It is very evident that these officials may have some complexes and would want to establish their authority over all the sports folks under them of which there are two classes. The first class is made up of those who are from ordinary homes and would do anything to make the team, just to boost their social standing. In this case they become willingly subservient to those in authority. Being part of the team or squad, no matter what the results would be, will certainly make them lords in their individual communities.
The second class is made up of the affluent, who have nothing to lose. These sports folks, facing even the authority with challenges, would never submit to anyone without being convinced why they have to.This the authorities cannot just stand. So, once one is identified to be from this class, he or she must pray for divine interventions.
There was a case, way back in the 1978, where two brothers who were in the Greater Accra collegiate basketball team had to plead to be given a chance to play in the competition. These brothers were better than most of the regulars, but they were always made to warm the benches because they were from affluent homes.
It might be for this reason why Ernest Obeng was targeted and all excuses were found to remove him from the list. This fine Ghanaian athlete based in Great Britain, and whose mother was Dr (Mrs) Letitia Obeng of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi, was wrongly accused by officials of gross insubordination; staying out of the Olympic village without permission; lacking team spirit and not taken part in the opening ceremony; lacking respect for officials; sabotaging the team’s effort in the 100m relay by expressing not to participate; carrying an unsuitable hair style and drinking alcohol two nights before the start of the event he was scheduled to compete in.
In response, Ernest stated that there was no procedure for athletes to follow with regard to staying out of the village and he even informed the captain and others of his absence for a few days before the event took place. He needed to go somewhere quiet to have peace of mind to concentrate on the important day of his life.
When he offered these reasons, his name had already been delisted and the officials refused to accept the evidence of his witnesses.
Sports men and women, in such high-level games, may opt to reside outside the games’ village, if they do not feel comfortable there; this happened during the Paris Olympics. No coach or official would deny his athlete, peace of mind before an important event. Ernest pleaded for a more fitting form of punishment, but it was rejected.
Ernest Obeng completely rejected the allegations against him, of being an individualist and an introvert, stating that he never showed lack of respect for anyone, since he interacted well with everyone. He could express his thoughts and opinion on certain issues in disagreement with officials, but he never set out to do anything to disrupt the team.Ernest never knew that any expression of diverse opinion, is what the officials did not like.
He was denied the opportunity to participate in the opening ceremony, since he was not issued with the uniform to wear and his ticket for the match past was used by one of the officials.
He conceded that he indicated to the officials that he could not take part in the 100 m relay, because the other sprinters had trained more together on baton changing, which was very important in relays. He felt he could not be of help to the team if he replaced anyone. He was not told that participating in the relays was prerequisite to running the 100 m flat but was removed from the sprint list.
His hairstyle which he had worn for several years and got selected into the team, had suddenly become an issue. He wore that hairstyle and got selected for the 1978 All-African Games and run in the 100 m relay, which won gold for Ghana.
Ernest Obeng was accused of drinking alcohol when he never took alcohol, a fact known by his associates.
He concluded that the officials were in Los Angeles, just to have fun and were not bothered about their responsibilities towards the team. They were hardly there for training but rather went sight-seeing and shopping. Does 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, come in mind?
The officials became tyrants who never wanted diverse views from the team.
They could pick which athlete to punish and leave out other offenders. They would also choose athletes with lower performance over those who performed better to partake in the competitions.
Instead of addressing issues raised by Ernest Obeng, the National Olympics Committee, in 1984, came out with a resolution not to rely on athletes based abroad. They felt money that would be spent on them, tofly down to Ghana to justify their inclusion, could be used on local based athletes. So, today many Ghanaians are competing for other nations.
Ghana could have won a medal for the first time in the track and field in the 1980Olympic Games, but boycotted. Another chance was blown away in 1984, when Ernest Obeng was removed from the team, for no good reasons. Our sports started declining.
By Hon. Daniel Dugan
