Stacey to ignite Ghana’s Olympic dreams: Speed kings Azamati, Saminu in action Saturday

The 2024 Olympic Games have ignited Paris with unparalleled excitement, captivating sports enthusiasts worldwide. As we dive into Day 4 of this 19-day sporting extravaganza, countries are already clamouring for supremacy on the medal table, setting the stage for fierce competition.

Team Ghana, a nine-member squad, made a vibrant entrance at the spectacular opening ceremony last Friday, dazzling in their colourful fugu attire. But now, the real contest begins tomorrow as Harry Stacey makes a splash in the swimming pool, marking the start of Ghana's quest for Olympic glory.

Following Stacey's debut, the spotlight will shift to high jump star, Rose Amoanimaa Yeboah, and swimmer Joselle Alice Mensah, who will vie for their qualifiers on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

Competing on a wildcard entry, Stacey will make his Olympic debut with a plunge into the 100m men’s freestyle at 9:15a.m. in Heat Four. At 24, Ghana's top-ranked swimmer is determined to seize this golden opportunity to chase his Olympic dream.

Wild card journey
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) introduced wild card entries in the 1996 Games, to broaden participation worldwide, as qualifying for the Olympics via only the entry standards was becoming a difficult hurdle for some athletes. However, securing a wild card is no easy feat. Athletes must demonstrate promise in their sport, with their records vetted by a tripartite technical committee of the IOC.

In deciding who gets the wild card or special invitation, the committee prioritises underprivileged countries with six or less qualified athletes, but strictly considers only athletes with the required technical standards to compete in the Olympics, meaning they should have at least gone through some kind of elimination at the NOC level.

Priority is given to underprivileged countries with six or fewer qualified athletes. At the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Games, Ghana's Abeiku Jackson benefitted from this scheme, but for this year’s Paris Games, the mantle has passed to Stacey and Joselle Mensah.

Stacey’s date with destiny
Stacey's journey to Paris was sealed with an impressive 50.67-second swim at the Africa Aquatics Swimming Championships in Luanda, Angola. This earned him a coveted wild card entry, meeting the IOC's rigorous standards for the Paris Games.

In his preliminary event, he will come up against fellow wild card swimmers and for the Heat Four, Stacey will be in Lane Six, up against Nikolas Antoniou (Cyprus), Matthieu Seye (Senegal), Jayhan Jamaud Odlum-Smith (Saint Lucia), Leo Nolles (Uruguay), Yousuf Almatrooshi (UAE), Kyle Abeysinghe (Sri Lanka), and Enkhtamir Batbayar (Mongolia).

There will be 10 heats for the 100m freestyle event and only the fastest 16 swimmers will make it to the semi-finals, meaning there will be automatic qualification for the first and second with the six fastest third-place swimmers also making it. 

Having made a 49.29secs time in a personal best, Stacey believes he is well positioned to earn a slot in the semi-finals as he is not too far off the world and Olympic records which stand at 46.80 and 46.92sec, both in the name of China’s Zhanle Pan.

“I want to make the most of the opportunity I have and I’m working on making it to the semi-finals, first. It may seem an arduous task because only 16 swimmers will make it out of the possible 80 entered to compete and I will give it my best shot,” Stacey shared in an interview.

Speed kings gear up
The excitement continues for Team Ghana on Saturday, August 3, when sprinters Benjamin Azamati and Abdul Rasheed Saminu compete in the Men's 100m at 9:45 GMT. 

The action heats up again on Thursday, August 8, with Team Ghana competing in the 4x100m Relay - Round 1 at 9:35 GMT. The relay team, consisting of Joseph Paul Amoah, Azamati, Isaac Botsio, and Fuseini Ibrahim, promises excitement. Azamati and Amoah, both seasoned Olympians, will be joined by debutant Abdul-Rasheed Saminu, creating a formidable sprint relay team.

The thrill of Olympic glory beckons 22-year-old Saminu, the sprinter from the University of South Florida, who is one of only two Ghanaians who have secured places in the individual events in Paris.

Saminu qualified for the 100m event through the entry standard. However, he opted out of the men's 200m despite making the qualification time to concentrate on the shorter sprint and the 4x100m relay.

Like Saminu, Azamati qualified for the 100m event via the World Athletics Ranking System. In the rankings, Azamati secured the 39th position, while Saminu came through in the 54th spot, both earning their tickets to Paris.

The 26-year-old Azamati will be heading to his second Olympic Games, having competed in Tokyo 2020.