Ghana participated in four disciplines, football, athletics, boxing and table tennis. This was the year Ghana achieved the distinction of being the first African country to win an Olympic football medal-a bronze. Thanks to a brilliant 19th minute goal by defender Issac Asare who scored with a powerful free kick in the match for the bronze against Australia in Barcelona on August 7th.

Earlier in the 15th minute goalkeeper Ibrahim Dossey had saved a well taken penalty kick by Australian danger man Paul Okon when Frank Amankwah was penalized by Spanish referee Diaz Vega for robust tackling in the box.

It was a foul strewn match and dribbler Odartey Lamptey who could not stand the robust tackling was replaced by Shamo Quaye early in the second half. Unfortunately, Shamo Quaye was red carded in the 62nd minute for what the referee thought was time wasting.

Playing with ten men the Meteors sustained a lot of pressure but suffered when goalkeeper Ibrahim Dossey was injured and had to be replaced by Simon Addo. The substitute goalie made some hair raising saves as the Australians went all out for the equalizer, which never came.

Soccer (BLACK METEORS)

Line up:: Ibrahim Dossey/Simon Addo), Frank Amankwah, Sammy Adjei, Issac Asare, Yaw Acheampong, Mohammed Gargo, Odartey Lamptey/Shamo Quaye, Ablade Kumah, Bernard Aryee, Yaw Preko, Kwame Ayew.

Earlier Ghana had beaten Australia 3-1 in the opening match at Sabadell on July 26. Ghana took the lead in the 10th minute from Mohammed Gargo’s free kick, which deflected off a defender and beat keeper John Filan. Full back Amankwah had a yellow card in the 19th minute for rough play and Yaw Preko replaced injured skipper Ablade Kumah in the 53rd minute. The bigger Aussies played it hard and Mohammed Gargo had to be replaced in the 67th minute by Osei Kufour.

The Black Meteors still pressed hard and two excellent passes from speedster Yaw Preko saw Kwame Ayew scoring twice in the 80th and 83rd minutes to give Ghana a commanding lead before the Aussies pulled one back through midfielder Vidmar.

Line up: : Anthony Mensah, Issac Asare, Frank Amankwah, Mohammed Gargo/Osei Kufour, Sammy Adjei, Yaw Acheampong, Ablade Kumah/Yaw Preko, Odartey Lamptey, Bernard Aryee, Kwame Ayew, Maxwell Konadu.

The second group match against Denmark in Zaragoza on July 28, ended in a pulsating goalless draw but the Meteors threw away countless chances. Skipper Ablade Kumah and Kwame Ayew were the most guilty.The result was however good enough to put Ghana on top of the group ahead of Australia, Denmark and Mexico.

Line up: : Anthony Mensah, Frank Amankwah, Sammy Adjei/Issac Asare, Yaw Acheampong, Mohammed Gargo, Odartey Lamptey/ Yaw Preko, Kwame Ayew, Maxwell Konadu, Shamo Quaye, Ablade Kumah.

The Meteors reached the quarter finals in a dramatic manner drawing 1-1 with Mexico on July 30. The Meteors were reduced to ten men for the last twenty-four minutes following a red to Sammy Adjei and down by a first half goal, the Meteors managed to survive in the competition with an equalizer five minutes to time.

Mexico took the lead in the 30th minute from a swift counter attack, which caught the Meteors defence napping and an unmarked striker Rottan beat goalie Anthony Mensah from the edge of the box with a low footer.

Ghana’s equalizer was classic. Substitute Yaw Preko who had replaced Shamo Quaye used his speed and pace to out run the Mexican defence and beat the goalkeeper with a perfect shot from the right. The ball however hit the posts and was rebounding into play when Kwame Ayew, using his striking instincts, followed up and slotted it into the yawning yet.

Earlier in the 66th minutes Colombian referee Torres Cadena had mistakenly shown Sammy Adjei the red card for an offence committed by Isaac Asare.

Line up: :Anthony Mensah, Frank Amankwah, Issac Asare, Sammy Adjei, Mohammed Gargo, Yaw Acheampong, Odartey Lamptey, Shamo Quaye/Yaw Preko, Ablade Kumah, Maxwell Konadu/Mahmoud, Kwame Ayew.

Two extra time goals, the last in the very closing stages against Paraguay in Zaragoza on August 2nd sent the Black Meteors into the semi-finals and medal zone.

Kwame Ayew put Meteors ahead in the 17th minute with a brilliant header from Yaw Preko’s cross. Kwame Ayew got the second midway through the second half and Ghana was cruising to a comfortable win when disaster struck. Osei Kufour was injured in a sticky goal-mouth melee and was receiving treatment when Yaw Acheampong under pressure, kicked the ball into his own net. That was in the 76th minute. Five minutes later Acheampong as if under some spell, failed to clear a simple ball, was beaten and as goalkeeper Mensah tried to intervene, he was teased out for substitute Campos to get the equalizer and send the match into extra time.

The Meteors fought spiritedly in extra time and Olli Rahman finished off a perfect combination between Yaw Preko and Kwame Ayew in the 7th minute of the second half of extra time.

Kwame Ayew sealed the doom of the Paraguayans a minute to time with a great goal from a great pass from Yaw Preko for Ghana to qualify for the semi-finals against host nation, Spain.

Line up: :Anthony Mensah, Frank Amankwah, Isaac Asare, Yaw Acheampong, Alex Nyako/Kalilu Dramani, Odartey Lamptey, Kwame Ayew, Osei Kufour, Yaw Preko, Bernard Aryee/Olli Rahman, Ablade Kumah.

Backed by the massive home support, Spain went all out and gave the Black Meteors their first defeat in the competition with a thumping 2-0 victory in Valencia on August 5.

Ace dribbler Antuna gave Spain a first half lead in the 20th minute with a powerful free kick.

The Meteors suffered an early set back in the second half when dependable Osei Kufour was shown the red card in the 48th minute for a second bookable offence. Playing with ten men the Meteors were under severe pressure and in the 54th minute Spain got their second goal through Rafael Martin who beat Anthony Mensah with a surprise thirty-metre shot.

Ghana was completely eclipsed after the second goal and the defence had to do some excellent, often desperate work to keep Spain from going further up. With this defeat Ghana had to fight for the bronze against Australia and the boys did it in grand style.

Line up: :Anthony Mensah, Frank Amankwah, Isaac Asare, Kalilu Dramani, Mohammed Gargo, Ablade Kumah, Bernard Aryee/Olli Rahman, Odartey Lamptey, Yaw Preko/ Osei Kufour, Kwame Ayew.

On the goal king Kwame Ayew was adjudged second highest scorer with six goals to Poland’s Juskawiak who netted seven.

BOXING

In boxing all five entrants were eliminated early. Light flyweight Steven Dotse lost to Rowan Williams of Britain 11-3; Middleweight Ashia Layea lost to Cuban Ariel Hernandez 6-0. Featherweight Alex Baba lost narrowly to Paul Ingle of Britain. Lightweight Dong Seidu was disqualified in the third round of his bout against C. Henry of Barbados for using an open glove. Super heavyweight Illiadi Alhassan was taken ill a few moments before his bout against Nigeria’s Igbinegdon against whom he had lost twice before.

TABLE TENNIS

In table tennis, Patience Abena Opokua lost 8-21, 6-21 to China’s Zine Chen and Helen Amankwah crashed to Sun Yun of North Korea 8-21, 5-21 in the women’s singles round robin.

In the second round elimination series, Abena Opokua was beaten 9-21, 4-21 by Ling Ling Minangmojo of in India Group E. Helen was also beaten 14-21, 10-21 by Lily Hughes of the US in Group H.

In the women’s round robin doubles Abena Opokua and Helen Amankwah were disqualified in their match against Romania’s Otilia Badesco and Maria Bosoku for using unauthorized attire.

ATHLETICS

In athletics, none of the competitors could reach the medal zone even though Emmanuel Tuffuor recorded some impressive times in the sprints. Tuffuor crashed out in the 100m semi-finals in 10.34secs. Earlier he had placed third in the heats in 10.31secs in a race won by Dennis Mitchell of the US in 10.22secs and Olapade Adenike of Nigeria second in 10.27secs.

Myles-Mills and Eric Akogyeram failed to survive the heats. Mills placed third in the fifth heats in 10.64secs. Akogyeram was also third in his heats in 10.60secs.

Tuffuor also crashed out in the semi-finals of the 200m placing fifth in 20.78secs and Nelson Boateng survived only the second round placing sixth in 21.04secs.

In the 400m, Solomon Amegatcher was the eighth fastest qualifier in 45.42secs but that could not carry him into the medal zone. Timothy Hesse however, fell early as he was beaten to fifth position in 46.67secs. Ghana crashed out of the 4×400m early when anchorman Solomon Amegatcher had muscle tear and had to be helped off the pitch. Other notable results were Kennedy Osei finishing second in his 800m heats in 1min47.17secs and Ghana’s sprints quartet of Tuffuor, Mill, Eric Akogyeram and Nelson Boateng reaching the second round in 40.11secs.