Ghana’s ace sprinter Vida Anim gave Ghana a bad image by her unsporting conduct in refusing at the last minute to run the 200 metres race at the Beijing Olympics when she had been duly registered. The young lady had promised to drop an earlier threat of a boycott but she suddenly changed her mind and puzzled Olympic officials continued announcing her name on the stadium loud speakers till they gave up and the event started with her lane being declared vacant

It was learnt later that Vida was nursing an injury. This was confirmed by G.B. Awuakye, Chief Sports Development Officer who told reporters that Vida had been advised after undergoing a test not to take part in the competition due to a muscle tear. Mr Awuakye did not make it clear when the test was made. He appears to be an accessory and he owes an explanation to the good people of Ghana why he did not inform the Games organizers of Vida’s so called injury for the necessary deletion of her name from the list of competitors.

It is my submission that Awuakye and Vida have conspired to give Ghana a bad image at the Olympics quite similar to what happened at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 when Ghana messed up in the men’s sprints relay final. What happened was that Eric Nkansah had been injured in the semis and Ghana wanted to replace him with Christaian Nsiah but Ghanaian officials were told that apart from time lapse, Nsiah was technically disqualified because he had previously been substituted.

This simple rule was surprisingly ignored and Nsiah was added to the team much to the consternation of Games officials who insisted that Nsiah could not run. The Ghana team stubbornly stood their grounds and in the glare of world-wide television coverage they delayed the start of the race. Indeed Olympic security officers had to be brought in to stop the rot before the Ghana quartet comprising, Abu Duah,Albert Agyemang, Aziz Zakari and Christian Nsiah finally left the pitch in a leisurely walk around the track

Back home an embarassed Sports Minister E.T.Mensah ordered the then Chief Development Officer George Dasoberi to probe the incident. Not much was heard about the probe except that the chief athletics coach Rose Hart was transferred to the Western Region and she resigned in protest

Earlier in Atlanta there had been some petty embarrassing episodes surrounding the Ghana team which luckily escaped international exposure. Fred Adongo, the marathon runner had been disqualified because his qualifying time submitted by Ghana did not match the official records at the Games secretariat. Walker Vincent Assumang had also been disqualified because it was pointed out that all that he had been doing in Ghana was demonstration events and there was nothing on record about his activities as a competitive walker.

The last but not the least episode was that 400m runner Mercy Addy and heavyweight boxer Illiadi Alhassan bolted from the Games Village not to be seen again

Indiscipline among Ghanaian athletes seems to be endemic. At the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 two UK based athletes Ernest Obeng and Fred Kwasi Owusu were sacked on the eve of the competition and their entries withdrawn for staying out from camp for two days without permission.. Obeng’s argument was that no rule existed that an athlete asked permission to go out and no curfew had been established by any official

The most recent Ghanaian Olympian to show indiscipline was footballer Sulley Muntari who was sacked from the Athens Olympics in 2004 by Coach Mariano Barreto for breaking camping rules

Back at the Seoul Olympics in 1988 there was a slight embarrassment for Ghana when the women’s table tennis doubles pair of Abena Opokua and Helen Amankwah were disqualified in their match against Romania’s Otilia Badesco and Maria Bosoku for using unauthorised attire.

The records depict that the first major indiscipline by Ghanaian Olympians occurred at the 1968 Mexico Olympics during an ill tempered football match between the Black Stars and Israel. Ghana lost the match 5-3 and a stern French referee Michel Kitabajan

Sacked George Alhassan and Jones Attuquayefio who were involved in a free for all fight midway through the second half of the match..They were banned for two matches. Later skipper Addo Odametey and Abukari Gariba were suspended for six months each. Odametey was alleged to have jumped on the referee and snatched his whistle while Abukari. booted him.

This cannot be said to be a tidy record for Ghana’s Olympic.Team and we would need to clean the stables. Lets start with Vida Anim