Ghana sent, I believe, a grand total of 8 athletes, of which 2 have had to drop out due to medical reasons, bringing the total to 6. Other countries Ghana is economically better than such as Ethiopia, Cameroon and Angola sent in significant Olympic contingents, which is garnering them much media attention from mainstream media centres.
This Olympics would have been a perfect time to really prepare and send in the big guns-the UK is one of the big homes of Ghanaian Diaspora population in the world, as such, we would have shown up in big numbers to support.
The England/Ghana football friendly at Wembley holds the record for being the fastest selling international friendly, with 20,000 Ghanaian supporters, which sold out in 2 weeks. If given the opportunity, I believe the same thing would have happened here.
Even when it comes to the few athletes Ghana sent, the amount of publicity surrounding the athletes is extremely poor-many London-based Ghanaians are unaware there were any Ghanaian athletes, and a reception held for them at the Ghana High Commission a week ago had no fanfare and very few invited guests.
I’m not saying we necessarily have to win medals, that will come with time and effort, but even losing can gain attention-the USA/Nigeria basketball match held few days ago has achieved a record as the most points scored by an Olympic basketball team (USA of course). Nigeria lost badly, but has still gained attention and admiration for fielding an Olympic basketball team.
When it comes to sports, and the Olympics, nearly all publicity is good publicity, and we must certainly take advantage of it for 2016.
What do you think of Ghana’s over all representation at the on-going Olympics?
Source: ghanacelebrities
