Ghana has qualified to the Paris 2024 Olympics in Athletics 100 x 4, which is one of the favourite events people are interested in.
The qualification did not come easy as they dropped the baton on Saturday in the heats which included World champions USA and Olympic champions Italy as well as Jamaica and Canada at the Thomas Robinson Stadium in Nassau, Bahamas.
The squad comprising Ibrahim Fuseini, Isaac Bostio, Benjamin Azamati and Joe Paul Amoah made amends on Sunday with a blistering run of 38. 29secs. to beat Nigeria the African Games champions who made 38. 57secs. in a sweet revenge to qualify for Paris.
The official split times for Ghana were: Fuseini – 10.69, Botsio – 9.13, Azamati – 9.35, Joe Paul – 9.12. The 38.29s is a Season’s Best (SB) for Team Ghana.
The USA with Noah Lyles made 37.40secs, while the female team made a new record of 41.85secs.
Many Track & Field fans have congratulated the team and Ghana Athletics.
“We made it this time around. Man, no be God. Paris Olympics” said Botsio
Fentuo Tahiru Fentuo of myjoyonline posted a video of Ghana, Nigeria and Liberia celebrating together after they all made the Olympics in the men’s 4x100m relays. Nigeria’s women even joined in.
Ghana initiated the “ole” celebration and the whole of Africa was happy.
Gary Al Smith is another Ghanaian sports journalist in Bahamas.
The World Athletics Relays, known as the IAAF World Relays until 2019, is an international biennial track and field sporting event held by World Athletics where teams from around the world compete in relay races, some of which are not part of the standard Olympic programme.
The 2024 Olympic Games is scheduled to take place from July 26 to August 11 in Paris, France.
By Sammy Heywood Okine