Despite the power struggle in the Ghana Olympic Committee which had threatened to affect Ghana’s participation in the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, there is every indication that Ghana will be at the Games in October. I will be refreshing the memories of readers with Ghana’s history at the Games but first a brief history of the Games itself.

The inaugural Commonwealth Games took place in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in 1930 under the name British Empire Games. Incidentally, it was the same year that the FIFA World Cup started in Uruguay. The Rev Astley Cooper (1866-1894) is on record as the person who broached the idea of such Games in 1891.

At the maiden Games, eleven countries fielding 400 competitors sent teams for a programme of athletics, lawn tennis, boxing, rowing, swimming and wrestling. The English team emerged with the largest share of medals.
It was agreed that the Games would be held in varying Commonwealth cities at four year intervals, preferably mid way between Olympic Games. Participants must be amateurs and be qualified by both or residence in some member country (or dependency of a member country) of the Commonwealth of Nations.

The second British Empire Games were held in London in 1934. Although the Games had been awarded to South Africa at the conclusion of the Hamilton Games in 1930, they were never to be held there. It became apparent that some representatives of South Africa could not accept totally the tenets of the Federation’s Constitution with respect to the issue of race. As a result, London became the home of the 1934 Games. The third British Empire Games were staged in Sydney, Australia in 1938.

The world wars disrupted the Games for a while and 1950 saw its resumption in Auckland, New Zealand. The fifth Games were held in 1954 in Vancouver, Canada and it was here that the competition was renamed the British Empire Commonwealth Games.

Cardiff in Wales, hosted the sixth Games in 1958; the 1962 Games in Perth, Australia; 1966 Games in Kingston, Jamaica and 1970 Games in Edinburgh, Scotland.

In 1970, the title was changed to British Commonwealth Games and there has since been a move to omit the name British from the title.

The 1974 Games went to Christchurch, New Zealand; 1978 Edmonton, Canada;1982 Brisbane, Australia;1986 Edinburgh, Scotland;1990  Auckland, New Zealand; 1994 Victoria, Canada;1998, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 2002 Manchester, England;2006, Melbourne, Australia; 2010 Delhi, India.

GHANA AT THE COMMONWEALTH GAMES

Ghana first took part in the fifth Games in Vancouver, Canada in 1954 under the colonial name of the Gold Coast parading the empire flag of the Union Jack with the palm tree and elephant emblem.

The nation presented a token team of eight male athletes and three officials led by A.K.Konuah, for a long time Headmaster of Accra Academy Secondary School in Accra.

The athletes were Richard Ampadu, Henry Ofori Nyarko, J.K.Quartey, E.C.Nyarko (sprints); Willie Kwateng (880yds), K.Agbo (long jump), G.C.Armah (triple jump), and T.H.Amaning (hurdles). All the athletes were eliminated in the heats.

Available records indicate that J.K.Quartey was timed 50.6 secs in the 440 yds. Both Ofori Nyarko and Quartey clocked 22.9 secs in their respective 220 yds heats.

GHANA’S DEBUT: CARDIFF 1958

This was Ghana’s first Games after Independence in 1957. And as if planned to mark the occasion, the nation decided to enter one more sports discipline - boxing- in addition to athletics.

The new Ghana made her presence felt on the medals table courtesy high jumper Robert Kotei (later to become Gen Kotei) then cadet at the Military Academy in Sandhurst, England. He cleared 6ft 10in to win bronze.

Other members of the athletics contingent were F.A.Owusu, 440yds and 880 yds; J.A.Boamah, 880 yds and 1 mile; Richard Ampadu, 100yds; K.Agbo, long jump and triple jump; A.O.Lawson 100 yds and 220 yds; G.S.Laryea 100yds and 220 yds; R.M.Garber, high jump; Van Dyke, high jump.

Helena Quartey Papafio, 100yds and Cecilia Akowuah were the women athletes. Apart from bronze medalist Robert Kotei none of the athletes survived the heats; however some of them recorded appreciable results. High jumpers R.M.Garber leapt 6ft 4ins and Van Dyke cleared 6ft 3ins.

Richard Ampadu clocked 10.4 secs in the 100yds; A.O.Lawson made 22.1 secs in the 220 yds; J.K.Quartey was timed at 22.4 secs also in the 220 yds and Quartey again clocked 50 secs in the 440 yds.Woman sprinter Cecilia Akowuah did not compete on medical grounds.

In boxing, all the six competitors who trained under British coach Jack Roy failed to survive the preliminaries.
The boxers were bantamweight John Allen; featherweight Floyd Quartey; light welterweight Ike Quartey; welterweight Joseph Lartey; light- middleweight Alhassan Brimah and middleweight Samuel Osei.

Available records indicate that welterweight Joseph Lartey lost to Robert Scolt of Scotland and light-middleweight Alhassan Brimah was beaten by Billy Brown of Wales.

More to follow. Cheers everyone and keep loving sports"