GAA renders apology over Ghana’s 4x100m relay team disqualification at Commonwealth Games

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The governing body for track and field athletes, Ghana Athletics Association has issued an unqualified apology for its failure to submit athletes’ details from start to finish for the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham, England.

Kindly read below the association’s explanation for the disqualification and apology.

๐—š๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฎย ๐—”๐˜๐—ต๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐˜€ย ๐—”๐˜€๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€ย ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—พ๐˜‚๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ฑย ๐—ฎ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ด๐˜†ย ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟย ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒย ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—พ๐˜‚๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ปย ๐—ผ๐—ณย ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒย ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ปย ๐Ÿฐ๐˜…๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ๐—บย ๐—พ๐˜‚๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ฒ๐˜.

GAA would like to first render an unqualified and heartfelt apology to the menโ€™s 4X100m for the technical oversight that led to the disqualification of the team from the final of the 4X100m relay after comfortably placing 3rd overall in the semi-final. 

We also apologize to the many fans of Ghana Athletics around the world, and to the entire nation, we extend our sincere apology. 

Indeed, we are all heartbroken given that the menโ€™s 4X100m and coaches have successfully participated in many international events over the past few years; including a 5th place global ranking 14 days ago at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon (USA).

๐™๐™š๐™˜๐™๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™˜๐™–๐™ก ๐™๐™š๐™–๐™จ๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐˜ฟ๐™ž๐™จ๐™ฆ๐™ช๐™–๐™ก๐™ž๐™›๐™ž๐™˜๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ:

The menโ€™s 4x100m team was disqualified per World Athletics Rule TR 24.11. In short, only athletes whose names are on the final confirmation form as starters can run during the competition. 

Ghana originally submitted its 4x100m final confirmation listing four (4) starters and a reserve about 14 hrs before the start of the race on August 5th. 

Joseph Amoah, who was originally listed as a starter was subsequently ruled out of participating in the semi-final of the 4x100m on the morning of August 6th. 

However, in what we can only describe as an unfortunate oversight, Josephโ€™s withdrawal was not transmitted in time to the Technical Information Center (TIC) by our coaching crew as intended before the race. 

GAA is currently engaging major stakeholders on the matter since there are valuable logistical lessons to be learned from this unfortunate outcome.

Sincere apologies,

Ghana Athletics.