Ghana's Olympic History And Record

Ghana first participated at the Olympic Games in 1952, when it was known by the colonial name of Gold Coast . The nation has sent athletes to compete in most Summer Olympic Games since then, missing the 1956 Games , boycotting the 1976 Games in protest of the participation of NewZealand (who still had sporting links with apartheid SouthAfrica ), and joining the American-ledboycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics . Ghana participated in the Winter Olympic Games for the first time in Vancouver in 2010.

Ghanaian athletes have won a total of four Olympics medals, three (two bronze and one silver) in boxing , and a bronze medal by the under-23 Ghana national football team in 1992.

The history makers for Ghana at the Olympic Games are Clement Quartey, a light welterweight boxer who won silver in 1960 in Rome, Eddie Blay, also a light welterweight boxer who won bronze in 1964 in Tokyo, Prince Amartey, a middleweight boxer who won bronze at the 1970 Munich games and the black meteors squad of 1992 won Africa’s first medal, bronze in football in Barcelona, Spain.

As the years tickled, Nigeria in 1996 and Cameroun in 2000 won Olympic gold in football for Africa.

The National Olympic Committee for Ghana (GOC) was created in 1951 and recognized by the InternationalOlympic Committee the upcoming year. It has over the years found it difficult to rally the best sportsmen and women with training and motivation to claim more Olympic medals.

There had been leadership crisis and funding problems, as relationships with member sports associations had not been cordial and transparent, while the government of Ghana investment into sports is not adequate.

The future for Ghana sports always look bright because there are the men and women who can compete, but training, motivation, encouragement which funding and appreciable allowance are what the performers need to excel.

Thank God for a new boxing arena and training facility for the people of Accra who love boxing. There is also the need for another arena for athletics, where students and other keep fit clubs can go and train to become international stars.

Once the Olympic Games keeps on coming up every four years, and anything ca happen in sports, watch out for Ghana boxing especially in the future.

Boxing has been our hope and will remain our hope. Let’s encourage the boxers.

Prince-amartey