Ghana at the 2012 Olympics … A waste of taxpayer’s money?

The road to Ghana’s participation in the 2012 Olympics is has been long but we managed to get there. Charles Benoni Okine recounts the incidents to date and asks whether our participation is worth it? It began with a power struggle over who should be the President and the new executive of the Ghana Olympic Committee. Then came the news that Ghana had suspended by International Olympic Committee (IOC).

It was then that Ghana's participation in the 2012 Olympics in London was put in doubt. According to the IOC, the decision was as a result of the "political interference" with the National Olympic Committee of Ghana. IOC president Jacques Rogge said the country's sports law "does not respect the provisions of the Olympic charter" and, therefore, the ban means Ghana's Olympic funding has been withdrawn and the country will be barred from the 2012 event. The IOC's executive committee voted to suspend Ghana after months of wrangling with the African nation's Olympic bosses. Until the issues were resolved later, the sanctions were to see Ghana out of the world games. Earlier in December, football's governing body FiIFA called on the Ghanaian government to stop meddling with the sport's administration. These developments affected the preparations towards the event because the main passion of the nation, soccer was successful. Ghana’s soccer team could not even qualify although they were World Champions. The women’s team also suffered defeat and could not participate.

Ghana’s contingent

At the end of the day, the GOC was able to get only a nine-member contingent to replace the country at the event where many countries are parading an average of 50 athletes.

They are Ignisious Gaisah, Long Jump;  Vida Anim, 200 meters (women); Margaret Simpson, Hepthalon; Tetteh Sulemanu, Duke Akueteh Micah, Isaac Zio and Kojo Dogbe, all boxers; Emmanuel Nartey, Judo and Alberta Amponsah, weightlifting.

So far, there is only one surviving boxer but so far, they have all participated abysmally but before they public blames them, the big questions should be asked of the authorities that prepared them for the games only to add to the numbers but not to win any laurels.

At a time when countries that were eager to make a mark at the games were preparing, Ghanaians were disgracefully fighting over positions with some elements within government wanting to show others where ‘power lies’.

As the fight went on, the teams were virtually idle because there was no hope until the intervention of the present sector minister to get the IOC decision reversed.

There were also challenges with the foreign based athletes who were not given any funds to enable them to travel down to participate in local events that prepare athletes for such crucial games. Reports say they were asked to come in to be reimbursed, a situation which discouraged some of them from coming at all.

It is also obvious that the serious preparation for the games lasted far less than a month and the performance of the athletes can attest to the poor preparation.

Waste of funds.

Countries at the event are sure of making a mark at the event by winning of medals for their countries. In the case of Ghana’s contingent, although the team leader for Ghana promised Ghanaians some medals, it is obvious that cannot happen.

Reports say, the entire American team of more than 500 was sponsored by companies and the government spent nothing. That was reasonable because there is going to be value out of it for those companies.

Unfortunately on the part of Ghana’s contingent, nothing of such sort happened. This was simply due to the abysmal preparation towards the games.

Way Forward

It is time to for managers of the public purse particularly in sports to be made to account for the monies they collect to participate in games and tournaments. This is because; the monies spent on the managers and their teams are from the Consolidated Fund which is made of monies from taxes from the sweat of Ghanaians.

It is against this background that we need to ensure that where we trust we have the capacity and have also prepared well, we can request for funds to be partake in future high profile tournaments and events.

However, where preparation has been non-existent as in the case of the on-going London Olympic Games, there is no need for us to spend money and bring nothing in return.

This is however, not to suggest that the athletes paraded are not good. The issue is that, should we agree to partake in such high profile events, the contingent should be taken through proper training to enable them to perform to the best of their abilities.

They need to bring value to the monies spent on them and also help them realize their potential in the future.