Ghana's Track 'Queen' Is A Boy

By Lanre Olaleye

Lagos - For years, Agnes Afiyo was the pride of Ghana in the track and field events. But latest medical tests carried out on her have summarily made her a villain.

Afiyo who stormed the Ghanaian sports scene in 1995 and continued to dominate the female track and field events by sending both national and international records crashing was recently exposed as a male after all.

According to a newspaper report published in Accra, the expose on the Ghanaian track "queen" followed three successive tests carried out two years ago at the police hospital in Accra which proved that Afiyo is not female but a male.

Ghana's chief athletics coach, Mr. S. S. Atuahene was said to have blown the lid off the real sex of the female athletics sensation during a recently concluded Mobil Athletics trials held in Kumasi.

Afiyo's path to dishonour, according to the report, started two years ago during a routine medical check on athletes representing the country at a junior competition in France.

Consequently, the Ghana Amateur Athletics Association (GAAA) infuriated by the discovery has ordered that all records held by the disgraced athlete should be expunged and such should be credited to athletes who came second behind Afiyo in the track and field events.

Before the long arm of truth finally caught up with her, Afiyo had set a new national record in Javelin with a throw of 55.36 metres in 1997, prior to that, 'she' had broken the Javelin record with a throw of 49.79 metres.