African Athletics Champs: No gold for Ghana

Ghana’s long wait to hear the national anthem at the 24th African Senior Athletics Championships ended in heartbreak yesterday after team captain Joseph Paul Amoah failed to deliver the elusive gold medal on the final day of competition at the University of Ghana Stadium.

With the weight of a nation’s expectations on his shoulders, Amoah carried Ghana’s last realistic hope of climbing to the top of the podium but could only finish fifth in a fiercely contested men’s 200m final, bringing the curtain down on the host nation’s campaign without a single gold medal.

The Ghanaian sprinter clocked 20.83 seconds in a race dominated by Côte d’Ivoire’s explosive Chekina Traore, who stormed to gold in 20.32 seconds. Botswana’s Selepe Phaeisel claimed silver in 20.43, while South Africa’s Mihlali Xhotyeni secured bronze in 20.57.

For Ghana, it was a painful conclusion to a championship that repeatedly flirted with glory but ultimately exposed the gap between promise and podium dominance at continental level.

The hosts finished the six-day championships with five medals — one silver and four bronze — leaving the packed home crowd with moments of excitement but no defining golden finish to celebrate.

High jumper Esther Ohenewaa emerged as Ghana’s standout performer, producing a personal best leap of 1.81 metres to secure the country’s only silver medal of the championships.

Bronze medals came through Florence Agyemang in the women’s 400m, Alex Amankwah in the men’s 800m, and Ghana’s men’s and women’s 4x100m relay teams, whose performances briefly lifted the atmosphere inside the Legon stadium on Friday evening.

But the final weekend delivered more frustration than celebration.

Saturday and Sunday proved particularly difficult for Team Ghana, with disappointing performances in both the men’s and women’s 200m events. Amoah was the only Ghanaian to survive the rounds and reach a final.

There was one final opportunity to rescue the campaign in the closing events of the championships — the men’s and women’s 4x400m relays.

The women’s quartet, anchored by a youthful side that included a Senior High School student on lead-off duty, produced a spirited display and came agonisingly close to another medal before finishing fourth behind Nigeria, Ethiopia and Kenya.

The men’s team endured an even harsher finish, crossing the line last in a race won by Zimbabwe, with Morocco and Kenya completing the podium places.

When the dust settled on the championships, Ghana’s five-medal haul left the hosts ranked 15th out of 49 participating nations, with only 24 countries managing to reach the medal table.

While Ghana struggled for gold, South Africa underlined their continental dominance by topping the standings with eight gold, two silver and five bronze medals for a total of 15 medals.

Kenya finished second with five gold, four silver and five bronze medals, while Ethiopia placed third with five gold, three silver and five bronze.

West African rivals Nigeria also outperformed the hosts, finishing fourth with four gold, three silver and two bronze medals.

Yet beneath Ghana’s modest medal return lay a more complicated picture.

The championships exposed familiar weaknesses in elite preparation and depth at senior level, but they also revealed the emergence of a fearless new generation of young athletes capable of competing against Africa’s best.