Rio 2016: Second Ghanaian swimmer Abeiku Jackson eliminated

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Eunice 9 years ago

He did well

He did well
$AINT GHFUO, MEDIOCRITY STINKS CUUHH! 9 years ago

unless smthing miraculous happens. abeiku's will prolly make it to the second rd heat in olympics2020 n then to the 3rd rd heat in olympics2024 placing 5th out of 6 in all competitions. the same applies to kaya forson as well ...
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unless smthing miraculous happens. abeiku's will prolly make it to the second rd heat in olympics2020 n then to the 3rd rd heat in olympics2024 placing 5th out of 6 in all competitions. the same applies to kaya forson as well...pls, make sure these kids get some swim scholarships at top notch swim schools. so they can get the best trainers, best facilities n compete against the best competitors. otherwise, this same fate awaits them if they return for the 2020olympiad in japan. its obvious watever they were doing or did to get here is not good, kraaaaaa
truth 9 years ago

These two swimmers are great start for Ghana for just BEING PRESENT AND BEING THERE. But there is no way they can imporve their times fast enough in four years to make a significant advance. WHY? because swimming is a spor ...
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These two swimmers are great start for Ghana for just BEING PRESENT AND BEING THERE. But there is no way they can imporve their times fast enough in four years to make a significant advance. WHY? because swimming is a sport that peaks very early. In other words you have to be at this international level by 15 or 16. Kaya is already 14 making her too old to catch up. And this young man is also too old to reach the standard. Instead, Ghana has to find and recruit a young 7/8 year old based in Europe and entice the parents to take it seriously and take the child to the club at an early age. Ghanaians, like most african parents are not interested in indulging sporting prowess of their children. Swimming requires MAJOR commitment from the parents because the optimal training time is early in the mornng ie usually at 6-7am. and then again late afternoon. So that is the challenge. even though these two are young, they are not young enough. Why do I say that? Look at their times and their titles. Have they won any national titles outside of Africa EVEN IN THEIR OWN AGE GROUPS IE U14 OR U16? NO. Therefore, the swimming federation has to take a hard look and say, we want them to represent Ghana at African youth level but if we want to actually get to medals in 2024 (forget 2020 unless you find a kid who is about 12 and already reaching medals at national european /american level because that's your competition realistically), then you are looking at recruiting 8 year old now for 2024. I just don't think that administrators in Ghana think that way or plan or have a strategic view and that is why, all we can do is just be there. Spend money to go to wave the flag and get knocked out at first round. There's no shame in getting knocked out at first round but a youngster like these two needs to have at least reached certain milestones to be eliminiated knowing that this outing was experience for the next one. I'm doubtful but of course I can be wrong. In any case Jackson needs to go to a swim school. I know of a couple that have trained Olympians for other nations here in Europe. And they won medals as teenagers. But will this boy be able to leave his family? Will Kaya? Will the parents make that sort of sacrifice? Will they pay for it? Will they move for it? i doubt it so it remains but a dream. Swimmers past the age of 22 are dead fish in the water.
PASTOR,,OGOGLO QUARTER,,!!! 9 years ago

AT LEAST ,RASHEED AND GHFOU WILL GET DROWNED B4 ME,,

AT LEAST ,RASHEED AND GHFOU WILL GET DROWNED B4 ME,,
$AINT GHFUO, MEDIOCRITY STINKS CUUHH! 9 years ago

16YR OLD CANADIAN PENNY IS WINNING SILVER AND BRONZE MEDALS IN SWIMMING FOR CANADA. YET, LOOK AT THE PERFORMANCE OF HER FELLOW AGE MATES KAYA FORSON AND ABEKU JACKSON. GH, Y3 NUA NE S3N NA ANBEN?

16YR OLD CANADIAN PENNY IS WINNING SILVER AND BRONZE MEDALS IN SWIMMING FOR CANADA. YET, LOOK AT THE PERFORMANCE OF HER FELLOW AGE MATES KAYA FORSON AND ABEKU JACKSON. GH, Y3 NUA NE S3N NA ANBEN?
jojo 9 years ago

rell the sport ministry to invest, you can not reap what you've not sown

rell the sport ministry to invest, you can not reap what you've not sown
Abigail 9 years ago

"Y3 NUA NO S3N NA ANBEN",Can you do any better .Stop making a fool out of your self n give good comments

"Y3 NUA NO S3N NA ANBEN",Can you do any better .Stop making a fool out of your self n give good comments
$AINT GHFUO, MEDIOCRITY STINKS CUUHH! 9 years ago

at the games in this event n still came up waaay short. smh....if any swimmer from gh wants to stay in africa n compete as a world class swimmer. u must go n based, train in south africa...tweaaa, senegal, bangaldesh all bett ...
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at the games in this event n still came up waaay short. smh....if any swimmer from gh wants to stay in africa n compete as a world class swimmer. u must go n based, train in south africa...tweaaa, senegal, bangaldesh all better past we?
Ghanaba 9 years ago

Why must other countries train our athletes for us? You ought to be ashamed of yourself for suggesting that.The one million dollars that is been wasted to send the these unprepared athletes could have been used to set up a v ...
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Why must other countries train our athletes for us? You ought to be ashamed of yourself for suggesting that.The one million dollars that is been wasted to send the these unprepared athletes could have been used to set up a very an ultra modern and well equipped Sports school at Bosomtwe or Adomi where they can utilize the lake for sailing, rowing and other watersports too.What is the point in sending ill prepared athletes to the Olympics?
truth 9 years ago

Of course we can set up the facilities but unless you can attract top notch coaches for a period of at least 4 years to stay in Ghana and train other local coaches we will get nowhere. When the Chinese started their quest fo ...
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Of course we can set up the facilities but unless you can attract top notch coaches for a period of at least 4 years to stay in Ghana and train other local coaches we will get nowhere. When the Chinese started their quest for medal wins they 'imported' THE BEST in every sport. Not second rate but the best. So that's what the problem is with developing a local programme. Bricks and mortar don't produce medals. It takes the right coaches and the right environment. Plus the fact that success brings success. In other words if you train at a club that has fast swimmers already in international rankings and with international qualifying times, it drives the inexperienced athletes performance up to. you can't just throw a bunch of kids in a pool, and a lot of inexperienced people who call themselves coaches (jackson's father calls himself his coach and he admists he doesn't even know how to swim!). In my experience of different sports in ghana, theyre's a lot of people calling themselves coaches who are absolutely not up tothe job of coaching even a 11 year old school team.

$AINT GHFUO, MEDIOCRITY STINKS CUUHH! 9 years ago

THINK BEFORE U COMMENT SO U DO NT LOOK LIKE A FOOL ON GHWEB, CAPISCHE PAISANO?

THINK BEFORE U COMMENT SO U DO NT LOOK LIKE A FOOL ON GHWEB, CAPISCHE PAISANO?
$AINT GHFUO, MEDIOCRITY STINKS CUUHH! 9 years ago

KWAME NKRUMAAH BROUGHT IN HUNGARIAN AND BRAZILIAN COACHES TO TRAIN BSTAR PLAYERS. SO WHY CANT OUR LEADERS BRING IN TOP NOTCH TRAINERS TO TRAIN OUR ATHLETES? SELFISH REASONS. THEY WOULD RATHER SPLIT N STEAL THE MONIES THAN WAS ...
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KWAME NKRUMAAH BROUGHT IN HUNGARIAN AND BRAZILIAN COACHES TO TRAIN BSTAR PLAYERS. SO WHY CANT OUR LEADERS BRING IN TOP NOTCH TRAINERS TO TRAIN OUR ATHLETES? SELFISH REASONS. THEY WOULD RATHER SPLIT N STEAL THE MONIES THAN WASTE IT TO DEVELOP GH ATHLETES IN ANYTHING...
truth 9 years ago

I don't think you understand or want to follow my argument? What I said is that you can't just build facilities. You have to bring in the best coaches. I used the examples of the chinese who went from tabletennis as a nati ...
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I don't think you understand or want to follow my argument? What I said is that you can't just build facilities. You have to bring in the best coaches. I used the examples of the chinese who went from tabletennis as a national sport to dominating every single sport (almost) in 30 years. They did this through organisation and bringing inthe best coaches. What I'm saying is that UNLESS the government can actually do this, ie bring in the best coaches and keep them in GHana for a minimum of 4 but preferably 8 year programme, you cannot get results. Which is why the only other alternative is to send the kids overseas or recruit the overseas kids then build the local programme that way in tandem. You have to understand that what I'm saying is the same as you without the insults and with a bit more thought. Also bear in mind that Nkrumah, as a socialist was able to get support and tap into other socialist countries' support for the emerging independent nations in Africa. in other words he had support from the soviet union which had a brilliant sports programme throughout the Soviet Block because, just like CHina does now they saw sports as an important part of their presence on the world stage. In other words Nkrumah could get Hungarian coaches to come to Ghana and work with the local talent. The hungarians now go to UK, France, Italy etc. There is no soviet block and they can travel. So all the poles, hungarians, romanians russians etc are in demand in Western European and American clubs and schools and colleges. That is the reality of Glasnost and perestroika. Capiche Paisano?
Ghanaba 9 years ago

This is precisely what I am talking about.You have just proven one of my point that we have the brains and organizational curiosity to start that journey.With the bricks and mortar I am quite sure we will be able to attract s ...
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This is precisely what I am talking about.You have just proven one of my point that we have the brains and organizational curiosity to start that journey.With the bricks and mortar I am quite sure we will be able to attract some ambitious advisors trying to create names and legacies for themselves to train our athletes.The current model of waiting for other countries to train athletes for us and relying on luck clearly does not work and will never work.So we need to come up with a better program.
truth 9 years ago

Absolutely. You have to analyse the whole picture and have a strategy. Sports is a growing area with money in it. So great coaches in all sports are in demand. There is no soviet block so there is notaking advantage of the ...
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Absolutely. You have to analyse the whole picture and have a strategy. Sports is a growing area with money in it. So great coaches in all sports are in demand. There is no soviet block so there is notaking advantage of the support of the Soviet block for the African nations. The Hungarian coaches the previous comment refers to cannot be recruited to Ghana when they can go to France and get paid a lot more and be in France as opposed to adapting to an entirely different culture. So if you spend money on buildings, which is a very popular thing because it's visible and everyone can show off and pat themselves on the back, instead of spending money on bricks and mortar, there needs to be a serious effort in identifying which sports are up for grabs, what the potential is given certain environmental factors and physical factors, and then when those 4 or 5 sports are identified focus on how/who to recruit who will actually stay and commit to a 4/8 year cycle. At the same time local coaches will learn. This is how the Chinese did what they did and I know this for a fact. Otherwise, the only real option, because this is a longterm strategy and likely to get shot down because the government changes or ministerial changes so there is no continuity or guarnatee that a coach recruited to the country can be protected for 8 years, then, the only other option is really to actively recruit Ghanians in the diaspora. But even that's hard because you're asking parents to take on the burden and again there is no guarantee that they won't end up wasting their time and money given the problem with the Federation Presidents who are a law onto themselves and can ban athletes just because ie Ophelia Swain and Martha Bissah. So that is the challenge. It is not solved by throwing money at it. And forget Kaya getting results, A Canadian 16 year old just won a gold medal tonight at the Olympics. That's just two years older than Kaya. Kaya's times as a 14 year old are no where near the possibility of being serious enough to catch up. Don't forget these girls in the pool today are not standing still waiting for you to catch them up. You have to compare a 14 year old with gold standard at the age of 14. What were THEIR results at 14? That's how youmeasure the trajectory of an athlete.
$AINT GHFUO, BLACK EXCELLENCE! 9 years ago

BLACKS ARE OVERLOOKED N LOOKED DOWN ALL OVER THE WORLD SIMPLY BCOS MOST OF US ARE MEDIOCRE IN OUR APPROACHES. IF I WERE GH PRESIDENT, I WILL ONLY SPEND TAX PAYERS MONEY ON ATHLETES WHO HAVE TIMES TO WIN MEDALS, CAN MAKE IT TO ...
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BLACKS ARE OVERLOOKED N LOOKED DOWN ALL OVER THE WORLD SIMPLY BCOS MOST OF US ARE MEDIOCRE IN OUR APPROACHES. IF I WERE GH PRESIDENT, I WILL ONLY SPEND TAX PAYERS MONEY ON ATHLETES WHO HAVE TIMES TO WIN MEDALS, CAN MAKE IT TO THE FINALS OF EVERY ATHLETIC OLYMPIC EVENT OR THE FINAL HEAT IN ANY COMPETITON. THE GH GOVT WILL BASE ITS SUPPORT OF OUR ATHLETES ON THESE 3 CRITERIA
1. MEDAL HOPEFULS
2. FINAL CONTENDERS
3. FINAL HEAT CONTENDERS

IF WE DONT HAVE ATHLETES WHO FALL IN THESE CATEGORIES, THEN DONT SUPPORT THEM FINANCIALLY. WE NEED TO UPLIFT OUR DEAD IMAGE AS A RACE AND SENDING ATHLETES TO INTERNATIONAL MEETS TO PLACE LAST AND LAST BUT 1 IN THE WEAKEST HEATS IS VERY SHAMEFUL....
truth 9 years ago

You have to start somewhere and sometimes you need to send an athlete to a big stage in order for them to get the necessary experience to do well at their peak. In other words it's a dress rehearsal as without exposure to th ...
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You have to start somewhere and sometimes you need to send an athlete to a big stage in order for them to get the necessary experience to do well at their peak. In other words it's a dress rehearsal as without exposure to the big moments like olympics or world championshipship, you can't always do your best. SO it avoids athletes from seizing up. However I agree that there has to be proper procedures and selection criteria. National Ghanaian titles in most sports is not enough. Athletetics is to a good standard but winning a national Ghana title in say swimming or archery is not good enough to win you a ticket. The athletes have to perform at African championship level top 10, or top 8, commonwealth level top 8 or top 10, Youth or junior commonwealths or african games. And then it depends on the age of the athlete. If a 18 year old athlete does well in junior africans or junior commonwealths as a swimmer let's say, you can't expect them to get a medal 4 years later in an olympic pool. NOt going to happen. So it's about knowing sports understanding the various factors and then working with the federations from an informed perspective to make the best of the opportunities and potential. Right now that's not how it's done AT ALL. It's just a decision by the President of a Federation which he does not have to explain or verify to anyone else and it's in their interests to have a bigger contingent because they get more money and more importantly more bragging rights and pr promoting themselves. If sports is professionally run in Ghana, and only then, will it attract sponsorship and conditions improve for all the athletes, the sports and the country and the image of the country at home and abroad. It is an urgent matter.
truth 9 years ago

It's true. He was in the weakest heat. He can't be 'coached' by his father who claims to be his coach and yet admits to not knowing how to swim! This young man can develop to a good solid African Continental level but even ...
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It's true. He was in the weakest heat. He can't be 'coached' by his father who claims to be his coach and yet admits to not knowing how to swim! This young man can develop to a good solid African Continental level but even that is a stretch at his age because at the last African Games there were very strong swimmers from Seychelles and Mauritius etc. So he needs a proper full time programme if they are serious and he needs to be with other elite athletes for the next four years and use the African Games as a goal. Commonwealths will be a far stretch with the times the Australians and Canadians are scoring at a comparable and even younger age. But well done for being pioneers these two swimmers and opening the eyes of Ghana and the possibility. The Federation needs to focus on finding a younger swimmmer to train. It takes 12 years to preapre and bear in mind they peak by 20 mostly.
kojo 9 years ago

4 out 12 to Go Ghana atleast bring 1 medal home pls

4 out 12 to Go Ghana atleast bring 1 medal home pls
Tony Boakye 9 years ago

Of course u cant reap what u've not sown!!!

Of course u cant reap what u've not sown!!!

Busumbru 9 years ago

Jokers

Jokers
Abigail 9 years ago

"Jokers", you can't do any better,can you???

"Jokers", you can't do any better,can you???
kk 9 years ago

good job bro we are proud of you

good job bro we are proud of you
kk 9 years ago

good job bro we are proud of you

good job bro we are proud of you
Adam 9 years ago

Ghana National Swim coach is not a trained coach.He never done any coaches coach.
Only do research on internet.Even his doesn't know how swim the swimming strokes competitively.
How can Ghana Swimming Association and Ghan ...
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Ghana National Swim coach is not a trained coach.He never done any coaches coach.
Only do research on internet.Even his doesn't know how swim the swimming strokes competitively.
How can Ghana Swimming Association and Ghana Olympic Committee will expect good result for this type of Internet coach.!!
Adam 9 years ago

Ghana National Swim coach is not a trained coach.He never done any coaches courses. Only do research on internet.Even his doesn't know how swim the swimming strokes competitively. How can Ghana Swimming Association and Ghana ...
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Ghana National Swim coach is not a trained coach.He never done any coaches courses. Only do research on internet.Even his doesn't know how swim the swimming strokes competitively. How can Ghana Swimming Association and Ghana Olympic Committee will expect good result for this type of Internet coach.!!
Ben 9 years ago

You people just like to hate on others for unwise reasons.... jumping to unfounded conclusions. This national coach you claim is just an Internet coach has used his research and the best of his resources to produce the best s ...
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You people just like to hate on others for unwise reasons.... jumping to unfounded conclusions. This national coach you claim is just an Internet coach has used his research and the best of his resources to produce the best swimmer in Ghana. Where are all the trained certified Ghanaian coaches? WhicH of them has done anything close to what the "Internet coach" has done? You people should learn to give praise where praise is due instead of always looking for an avenue to hate!!
truth 9 years ago

You are right Ben. It's a good start but it's not enough and it's not enough to peddle untruths and keep going down a path that is a dead end. NOw that the discussion has started and there is a presence and these youngsters h ...
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You are right Ben. It's a good start but it's not enough and it's not enough to peddle untruths and keep going down a path that is a dead end. NOw that the discussion has started and there is a presence and these youngsters have been allowed to go and represent, we need to step it up. Good pioneering move but it is not enough. And you cannot get results from these two athletes without the right support structure and proper analysis and knowledge at their age 14 and 18, they are way behind on their times and technique to be able to get beyond a possible last 8 in youth african Games/African Championships or African Games/African Championships. Internationally it would be a big ask as their counterparts of 14-18 are already in the olympic finals and some are even winning gold medals. Check this year's results.
truth 9 years ago

This analysis is only relevant to swimming of course which peaks early. In other sports, the age ranges and peak performance at elite level are different. But in swimming you can't take a 14 year old or 18 year old with Gha ...
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This analysis is only relevant to swimming of course which peaks early. In other sports, the age ranges and peak performance at elite level are different. But in swimming you can't take a 14 year old or 18 year old with Ghana national titles and slow international times and miraculously turn them into Olympic medal winners in 4 years. They are already way behind in their age category. So you have to position them at the continental level maybe commonwealth juniors and then recruit and build a programme for younger kids and bring them up through the ranks it takes 12 years roughly So the issue of age vs performance relates to this sport. OTher sports would be a different case entirely.
David Attieku. . 9 years ago

I think the athletes have done well in the first place let us Welcome them for that ..

I think the athletes have done well in the first place let us Welcome them for that ..

Jay 9 years ago

Wats happening to our fishermen? They should be train for this sports ooo

Wats happening to our fishermen? They should be train for this sports ooo
Ernestina 9 years ago

We like u

We like u
Ernestina 9 years ago

He did very well

He did very well
Abigail 9 years ago

Abeiku Jackson ,u did quite impressive .Keep it up.We proud of you

Abeiku Jackson ,u did quite impressive .Keep it up.We proud of you

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Rio 2016: Second Ghanaian swimmer Abeiku Jackson eliminated

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