As he walks away from the group of journalists he just spoke to, Richard Akpokavie sees another legion approaching.
He slows down in anticipation as the journalists draw nearer.
His smile is unmistakable. Infectious, even. Although the journalists have their own reason for smiling as they approach him.
It is the kind they give in a show of warmth, ostensibly to lull you into not only talking to them, but giving them access to the most intimate, never-told-before parts of your life and experiences.
JoySports Victor Atsu Tamakloe, who led the group like a pack of wolves, whispers the words ‘‘Efo, edze gbagba! Ewo’e wo doh.’’
He had assumed Akpokavie would understand his native Ewe language which translates to ‘‘Well done, man. You did all the work.’’
His non-Ewe-speaking colleagues are puzzled.
Akpokavie’s response; a broader smile and an extended hand for a handshake, leaves them even more flummoxed.
Before the group would recover from the micro-second of nothing, the new Ghana Olympic Committee president is whisked away into a corner of the auditorium at the Accra International Conference Center.
Down from the high of winning the elections, Akpokavie cuts through what’s left of the maze of emotions to find his first words as president of the GOC.
‘As members of the Olympic Committee, we stand for three core values; excellence, respect, and friendship.’
What followed was the product of a brilliant mind with institutional knowledge of the space he operated in.
He hit the right notes.
However, the substance of his message was lost on his opponent Michael Odum Aggrey, and his supporters.
Beyond Aggrey, there are still remnants of the Benson Tenogo Baba/Professor Francis Dodoo/George Lutterodt turf war.
Divisive past
Ben Nunoo Mensah, the outgoing GOC president, was the victim of several malicious attacks that only sought to undermine his integrity without necessarily exercising any of the constitutional provisions to seek accountability.
False narratives, misinterpreted audit reports, etc., were some of the things Ben Nunoo Mensah had to deal with.
There are no prices for guessing where many of his accusers came from.
Today, Akpokavie, by every stretch a protégé of Professor Francis Dodoo. The GOC’s executive board is also dominated by loyalists or sympathizers of Professor Dodoo.
Once upon a time, Professor Dodoo then president of Ghana Athletics, was accused in open court of using banned substances during his time as an athlete. Of course, there was no merit to it.
But the lawyer in question was himself a protégé of George Lutterodt, Dodoo’s adversary.
It was the height of the dirty politicking that had characterized the GOC and Ghana Athletics.
For a man who represented the country at four Olympic Games and was Ghana’s best athlete in 1987, it was sad to him subjected to such insults and assault on his integrity.
As fate would have it, that lawyer contested in Saturday’s elections and lost.
Again, there are no prices for the mastermind behind his defeat.
So the GOC remains every bit as divided as ever.
Many have applauded the GOC for the cordial manner in which the elections were held.
A decade ago, George Lutterodt stormed out of the elections after Prof. Dodoo won. No customary handshakes. No gesture of sportsmanship.
It did not end there. The next day, he told Asempa FM that “it was the dirtiest election in Ghana’s Sporting history.”
Those were the days when Congress allowed candidates to address delegates before the votes were cast.
You can imagine what the firebrand Lutterodt had to say.
That – and B.T. Baba’s spat with Prof. Dodoo, is the history of the men who are mentors to today’s leaders.
It is also why Akpokavie’s first order of business should be to extend an olive branch to every member of the other side of the divide.
Mend bridges, run an inclusive government, and be better than what came before.
Revenue generation
Ghana’s budgetary allocation for sports is GH¢65.9 million. Considering the Black Stars’ World Cup Qualifiers will wipe away a chunk of it while the rest goes into paying salaries and compensations at the Sports Ministry, it goes without saying that the new GOC leadership has to pull a rabbit out of the hat to fund Ghana’s preparations for the next Olympic Games.
On Thursday, Evans Yeboah, who is now the GOC’s treasurer told JoySports that he would target specific grants from donor organizations, and other affiliated international organizations.
It was a brilliant idea. It is that kind of inventiveness that can identify realistic revenue sources to fund its operations.
Athlete welfare
In 2024, the Sports Ministry and the GOC could not afford the cost of hiring a trainer for Rose Yeboah – a high jump record holder, to France for the Olympic Games.
She prepared for the Olympic Games in Cape Coast and then (10 days) in Strasbourg.
Meanwhile, her friend Lamara Distin (Jamaican high jumper), was at the Diamond League in Monaco. They were both products of the NCAA. Distin was then at Texas A&M University, while Yeboah was at the University of Illinois.
Two champions from the same cycle, different support systems, and strategies.
In the end, despite clearing a mark of 1.97 in June, Rose Yeboah showed up in Paris and couldn’t clear a height of 1.92 on August 1.
Then there was the triple threat fight on Joy FM’s Game Plan between the GOC, Ghana Athletics, and Deborah Acquah over who was supposed to cover her medical expenses but had failed to do so for three years.
Such heart-wrenching stories should be a thing of the past.
While Ghana’s athletes fight officials on the radio and are forced to train without their coaches for major tournaments, their counterparts elsewhere in the world are state-sponsored.
Six days ago, the National Sports Commission (NSC) in Nigeria disbursed $20,000 as training grants to the country’s elite weightlifters. The amount was to support their preparations for the 2025 World Athletics Relays in Guangzhou, China from May 10.
The main lesson here is the standardized ranking system given meaning by significant funding.
Be it through lobbying the government for more financial support, or by independently seeking sponsors and donors, Akpokavie needs to find a way.
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