Ghana will compete in the Relay Heats today August 8 for a place in the final and a shot at winning a medal at the Paris Games. The relay team has been drawn in heat 2 lane 3, with Benjamin Azamati, Joseph Paul Amoah, Isaac Botsio and Ibrahim Fuseini representing the West African nation.
Ghana’s 4x100m men’s relay team: An analysis of past performances and what the future holds for the Paris 2024 Olympics
Ghana’s run to Olympic qualification on the athletics track has been received well across the African nation.
There were celebrations in many homes as the men’s 4x100m relay team blitzed their way to a Paris 2024 berth, winning their qualifying heat on Sunday (5 May) by beating Nigeria and the Netherlands on day 2 of the World Relay Championships in Bahamas. This, in many ways, is a huge achievement, building on the many good things the team has done in the last five years, and putting aside several disappointing moments at the highest levels.
“We are prepared, mentally strong and ready to go to the Olympics,” Joseph Paul Amoah told Olympics.com following the event.
As the team limbers up for the Olympic Games in Paris this August, we take a look at Ghana’s progress, and what the future could hold for the team.
2019 African Games: Rabat
It was the competition that announced the relay team to the rest of the continent. Ghana had not won African Games gold in the 4x100m relay race since 2003 in Abuja, but in 2019 they won the title in a time of 38.30, setting a Games record in the process.
The young team was newly assembled, featuring Joseph Paul Amoah, Benjamin Azamati, who was still a student of the University of Ghana, Martin Owusu-Antwi, a student of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, and Sean Safo-Antwi, an athlete who had switched to competing for Ghana after representing Great Britain previously.
2021 World Relays: Silesia
A time of 38.79 in the heats booked Ghana’s place in the final, and sealed qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (held in 2021).
There was excitement that a global medal could follow in the final in Poland, and the team were in second position at the halfway stage. They crossed the line third, but were later disqualified because of a baton changeover outside the permitted zone.
Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 in 2021
The Ghana team went into the Olympics buzzing. With reinforcements added to the squad, they set a national record in the heats. Safo-Antwi (aged 30 at the time), Amoah (24), Azamati (23), and recent addition Emmanuel Yeboah (23) slashing 0.04 seconds off the mark that had stood at 38.12 since the 1997 World Championships in Greece.
Despite the impressive time, they finished fifth in the heat and had to sweat on whether their effort would be fast enough to qualify for the final. It was, but the next race gave a clear indication of why the team wasn’t yet ready to shine on the biggest stage. Ghana crossed the line seventh, but, as at the World Relays, the team was again disqualified for a changeover violation.
Despite the disappointment, there was a clear sense of what the future could held for the only African nation to have reached the final.
World Athletics Championships Oregon 2022
The World Athletics Championships 2022 in Eugene, Oregon, USA, saw another good display from the Ghana team. They finished third in the heats in a time of 38.58s. It was their season’s best at the time.
A day later, Safo-Antwi, Azamati, Amoah, and Joseph Oduro Manu missed out on a medal in the final, finishing fifth, but set a new national record of 38.07s in the process. That time was monumental in the growth of this relay team.
Commonwealth Games: Birmingham 2022
There was a huge setback at this competition. The Ghanaians finished in third place in their heat in England, behind Nigeria and Kenya, in 39.05 seconds. But they were then disqualified due to administrative errors. A change in the team line-up, with Abdul-Rasheed Saminu running instead of Amoah, hadn’t been communicated with the organisers.
The relay team left that competition with nothing.
2023 African Games: Accra
In front of home crowd, the team just missed out on winning a gold medal, being beaten by Nigeria in a photo finish. Ghana took second with a time of 38.43 while Nigeria edged it at the death with 38.41.
The relay team for the 13th African Games featured Edwin Gadayi, Azamati, who ran the back-straight, Solomon Hammond, and Amoah on the anchor leg.
2024 Penn Relays
The Penn Relays saw the West African country up against sprint powerhouses Jamaica, and it was a competition that tested Ghana’s relay depth.
The Jamaican’s won the race in 39.59, with Ghana second in 39.71, but the team had reason to be proud, with three of the four sprinters from their African Games campaign missing. Instead, Oduro Manu and Amoah were joined by Ibrahim Fuseini and Barnabas Aggerh.
2024 World Athletics Relays
The success in The Bahamas, where Ghana booked their tickets to the Olympic Games in Paris, is indication of the team’s steady progress.
The overall time of 38.29 seconds in winning the Olympic Qualifying Round 2 race featured fast split times for each of the runners and seamless baton exchanges. The team of Amoah, Azamati, Fuseini, and Isaac Botsio showing impressive cohesion after an earlier mishap where they dropped the baton in their first round heat the previous day.
“We knew what was at stake, so we just had to go in there and try to correct the wrongs from the day before… We are prepared, mentally strong and ready to go to the Olympics,” Amoah told Olympics.com after the race.
The Ghana men’s 4x100m relay team at Paris 2024 are aiming to be the first ever to win a sprint medal for the country at the Olympic Games.
They believe that their constant training, improved communication, proper race planning, and perfection of baton exchanges, could help bring a glorious moment for the Ghanaians, with one added ingredient…
Ghana’s secret weapon: Isaac Botsio
Isaac Botsio joined the relay team a year ago, with the sole aim of breaking into the first four. It looked tough from the start but his progression has left little doubt in the minds of the coaches that he is the man to trust.
Born and raised in Ghana’s twin city, Sekondi-Takoradi, Botsio Isaac always had a knack for the sport and pursued it when he was young, developing through school and college.
Botsio’s presence is stardust on the team, considering he entered the quartet this year after running 9.90s in a 100m distance. Although a +2.2 wind speed meant it wasn’t classified as legal, he has shown that his speed gives the team an extra urge. On Sunday, he registered a 9.13 spilt time at the World Relays to announce himself.
“God’s plan, I started feeling good during the Texas relays after running 10.05 seconds, I took it upon myself that be a solid start to my outdoor journey although a lot of people were saying there was much wind. That didn’t put me down because psychologically I knew it was a good time to propel me at the start of the outdoor season so I wasn’t looking much into what the world was saying,” he told Olympics.com afterwards.
The 9.9s have been the highlight of his season. “Running Sub 10 is a dream come true and I believe in God almighty who has planned the season that it has come to stay, the feeling of Sub 10 is within and I don’t have any words to explain but to thank God for it,” he added: “I am wishing every athlete who hasn’t tasted sub 10 seconds before to experience it.”
Source: olympics.com (Yaw Ofosu Larbi)
