Zero gold, zero bronze: Ghana's poor performance at the World Athletics Championship since 2009

Google how many medals has Ghana won in the World Athletics Championship since 2009 and the answer will be zero.

This record does not only reflect how poor our athletes have been at the athletics festival but also highlights the bigger problem of a nation that is not investing much in a sector that has the capacity to raise millions of dollars and employ thousands of people.

To put it in context, since 1983 when the IAAF World Athletics Championships was instituted, Kenya has won 151 medals, South Africa 27, Nigeria 9 and Ghana has just two with none coming in the last ten years.

The nation’s performance over the years has been nothing short of disappointing and Ghanaweb.com chronicles the nation’s dreadful display in the biennial tournament since 2009.

2009

The 2009 World Championships was held in Berlin, Germany. Ghana was represented by Vida Anim, Aziz Zakari, Seth Amoo, Nana Kofi Sam, Tanko Braima and Aziz Zakari.

Zakari was a medal hopeful for the country but he clocked a time of 10.57 in the heats. He was ranked 57th at the end of the 100-metre race.

Vida Anim participated in both the 100 metre and 200 metre races and managed to finish in the semi-final with a time of 11.43s and 23.36s respectively.

The relay team of Nana Kofi Sam, Tanko Braima, Aziz Zakaria, Seth Amoo managed a seasonal best of 39.61 but that was not enough to take them to the next round.

Just as they went so, they came with zero medals

2011

Seven athletes, zero medals is a summary of Ghana’s performance in the 2011 World Athletics Championships.

Aziz Zakari was in there again as the 100metre runner but once again failed to past the first stage with a time of 10:55s. Ignisious Gaisah competed in the Long jump. His best jump of 7.92m was ranked 17th, falling outside the top 12 who qualified for the final.

Margaret Simpson was Ghana's sole female competitor at the games. She placed 14th in the heptathlon with 6183 points.

Emmanuel Kubi, Tim Abeyie, Agyapong Ashhad and Aziz Zakari were the members of the relay team and they finished semi-finals.

2013

In the cold weather of Russia, Sprinter Flings Owusu Agyapong embarked on a lonely journey of winning Ghana a medal but her best was not enough as she exited in the 100 metres heat.

2015

The official register for the championship has Ghana’s name marked absent as the nation did not send athletes to participate.

Alex Amankwa and Janet Amponsah made the time for their respective races but could not compete due to visa issues.

2017

London 2017 was the championship that many Ghanaians thought was going to end Ghana’s medal-less run on the global stage.

Eight highly rated athletes were sent to participate in five events but not a single one of them returned home with a medal dangling on his or her neck.

400metres runner, Emmanuel Dassor was a medal hopeful but pulled out of his race due to a late injury.

Nadia Eke, highly tipped to make at least the finals failed to finish in the top 12 places in order to advance to the next stage of the triple jump. She actually failed to achieve the distance required by the IAAF in order to compete at the championships.

Janet Amponsah came 4th in the heat of the women's 200m with a time of 23.77.

Then national record holder Alex Amankwaah went into the competition with many Ghanaians hoping that he could win a medal but failed to do so as he finished 4th in the men’s 800m with a time of 1:47:22.

Flings Owusu-Agyapong, Gemma Acheampong, Akua Obeng-Akrofi, Janet Amponsah 4 × 100 metres had a seasonal best of relay 43.68 in the relay but that was not enough to earn them a medal.

2019

After their success in the African Games, expectations were rife that the men’s quartet of Sean Safo-Antwi, Benjamin Azamati, Martin Owusu-Antwi, and Joseph Paul Amoah would make the final of the 4x100m relay but unfortunately for team Ghana, they were pitted against some of the world’s best runners which made it impossible for them to grab a spot in the finals.

Their 38.24seconds finish in heat 2 was an improvement on the time they made to win gold at the African Games.

Ghana’s women’s relay team failed to qualify for the final of the 4x100m at IAAF World Athletics Championship.

Gemma Acheampong, Deborah Acquah, Halutie Hor, Flings Owusu-Agyapong and Persis William-Mensah were the members of Ghana’s relay team.

Joseph Amoah also failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the men’s 100m. The sprinter finished sixth with a time of 10.36 seconds in heat 3. The time clocked was way below his personal best of 10.01 seconds achieved in June this year.

He blamed it on fatigue after competing in a lot of events in 2019.