Wednesday, August 20, 2008

LESSONS FROM VIDA'S OUTBURST

THE 29th Olympic Games end this weekend in the Chinese capital of Beijing after three weeks of enthralling and exciting competition.
While several countries celebrate their heroes and heroines for their sterling performances, Ghana’s nine-member contingent returns empty-handed.
But while Ghanaians must commend them for their efforts to make Ghana proud at such a high stage, the Daily Graphic is very concerned about the fact that Ghana’s participation in such events almost always end in some kind of controversy.
Particularly embarrassing was yesterday’s no show from sprint queen Vida Anim, who refused to turn up for her 200m heats.
Even though there are reports that Anim’s no show was due to an injury from a muscle tear, events preceding yesterday’s incident cannot pass without comment.
Prior to yesterday, Anim, who reached the semi-final of the 100m last Saturday, threatened to pull out of the 200m races as a sign of protest against what she described as maltreatment from sports officials.
According to Anim, officials had shown very little interest in her preparations and had also refused to pay her an outstanding bill incurred, which she had presented.
Ms Anim may have had genuine concerns, but the Daily Graphic believes she could have gone about the issue in a more considerate manner, considering the fact that Ghana’s image was at stake.
Indeed, two years ago, after the World Athletics Championships, Ms Anim chose the BBC to tell the world and Ghana that she was considering switching nationality because of the frustrations she was encountering in her bid to run for Ghana.
The bill she presented, according to reports and her own admission on a BBC interview, was not spent on herself but other teammates who trained with her in Germany during the preparations.
According to reports from the Ghana camp, when she presented the bill, she was asked to hold on until the expenses were verified before it was paid as there was another bill meant for the same purpose from their European coach.
It is Ms Anim’s right to claim the money spent, but the question is: Was the money spent with the knowledge and consent of the authorities or it was a unilateral decision? And why would she not wait till the expenses were verified before being honoured? In this era, where there is the need for transparency and accountability, the right thing to do is for the authorities to be sure they are paying the right bills and not just because someone has presented them.
This is an unfortunate outburst, especially from Ms Anim, who has benefited so much from Ghana
Now, instead of winning public sympathy, Vida has confused us all, making it difficult for one to make sense of her situation. Was she genuinely injured and, therefore, could not run the race yesterday or she indeed carried out her threat to stay away?
The Daily Graphic is of the opinion that the unfortunate situation must encourage those in charge of our sports to take a second look at the succession plan to raise more international sportsmen and sportswomen for such high-level events.
It is about time that the technical base of the various sports events was overhauled to get competent people to unearth, groom and harness talents of international status.
These efforts must be accompanied by the provision of facilities to ensure that those keen on taking to sports have the right facilities.
The Daily Graphic also calls for the revival of the schools and colleges sports and given the needed attention, as that seems the only way to get more talents for the country.
For this reason, we call on the government to expedite action on the proposed Sports Bill before the Cabinet in order to restructure Ghana sports and set it on the path to success.

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