Chasing gold with broken jaw

We were too shocked and the state of mourning prevented us from paying attention to other things. Before we could overcome the two-weeks of national mourning and recover from the pains of the death of our president, the Olympic Games, London 2012, was over. Olympic Games does not come by chance. It takes place once every four years and, therefore, cannot take any country or group of persons by surprise. While host nations are given at least eight years to prepare infrastructure other facilities for the games, participating countries and athletes have not less than four years – that’s from the previous to the next games – to prepare. Therefore, if poor performance at the games was due mainly to ill planning and preparation not because we were overwhelmed by superior qualities by opposing athletes, then the matter should not be taken lightly. Four years ago, we were at the Beijing Olympic Games without Ghana’s name registering on the medals table. As a serious nation, we should have then resolved that 2012 at London, would have been far better than Beijing. Our performance or rather non-performance at the London Games clearly indicates that our interest as a nation does not go beyond ordinary participation. If that were not so, we had four years to prepare the athletes in the various disciplines we traditionally have our strength to ensure that our national anthem booms at least once during the medal-awarding ceremony. That was not to be. We live in a country where people bear huge titles which translate into hefty pressure on the national kitty in the form of salaries and allowances and other inducements. However, when it comes to responsibility, there is a huge vacuum. We have a thousand and one excuses for our failures, shifting blame from one person or institution to another until finally everything comes to rest in the bosom of the proverbial no funds syndrome. Can we imagine that we went to London knowing very well that the athlete who was our flag bearer at the opening ceremony had suffered a broken jaw in June, and was, therefore, most unlikely to participate in the games? Incidentally he was one of the nine athletes Ghana as a nation could raise to the London Olympic Games. Ghana had not been lacking in talents in the sporting arena. Boxing, athletics and, to some limited extent, football had won for the country laurels at international tournaments. At one stage, Ghana was regarded as one of the strongest boxing nations in the Commonwealth and had some of the best sprinters who rubbed shoulders with countries like Jamaica, Nigeria, Great Britain and Canada. In 1992, we became the first country from Africa to win Olympic Bronze in football at the Barcelona Games. We became so excited with our achievement that we did not realise it when Nigeria and Cameroun went ahead to win Olympic Gold in soccer in 1996 and 2000 respectively. Instead of improving upon these achievements, we have allowed years of mismanagement and our nonchalant attitude towards sports development to reduce us to mere passengers on the international arena. We abound in the talents that could be transformed into top sprinters to rival Usain Bolt and all those guys from Jamaica, Bahamas, Trinidad & Tobago, Great Britain, Canada and Brazil whose top athletes have their roots on the African continent. We have boxing talents nation-wide who could do far better than their great predecessors did in the 1960s and early 1970s before the slump set in. It will take a few gyms here and there to transform these youngsters and introduce them into the world of fame and fortune. We have strong men moving about town describing themselves as macho men. These are people who have deployed their energies in terrorising people at political rallies and acting as land guards. Some of these people could be transformed into medal-winning weightlifters at the Olympics if we put in place the right facilities to train them and redirect their potential energies. Already we are seeing with pride, the social and economic transformation some of our successful footballers are bringing into the country. It tells a story that sports in general has the potential of not only bringing fame to a country but changing the fortunes of its youth. We need to take sports development more seriously than we are doing now. The lacklustre manner our national teams are prepared for international engagements are not the best. Joblessness can be easily tackled to a very successful extent if the sporting talents of the youth could be given a more serious attention. Any serious investment in this regard will not in the long run become a wasteful venture. The decay of the Azuma Nelson Sports Complex at Kaneshie in Accra is a living testimony to the irresponsible manner we have treated sports development in this country. That facility was not only going to serve as a nursing ground for youthful talents but could also boost internal tourism as many would want to see the complex named after one of Africa’s greatest boxers. Alas, the place is not worth the name of the great Azuma Nelson. For the London Olympic Games, it will be remembered that we used the greater part of our time not preparing but feuding among ourselves as to who qualifies to be a member of the Ghana Olympic Committee and who should be the legitimate chairman. We have gone and come back without a medal. So far as the Olympic spirit is concerned, we have satisfied the main requirement of being a cheerful participants, but for a nation that cherishes its national pride, we have failed ourselves. Rio de Janiero is four years away, beckoning to the youth of the world to come and exhibit their sporting talents. Let us not be mere participants. Let us also stand up and sing our national anthem at a medal-presentation ceremony and watch our national flag being hoisted before the world. fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordor.blogspot.com