Former Ghanaian heptathlete, Margaret Simpson has said that poor treatment meted out to athletes in the country, especially in the area of track and field has discouraged a lot of young people from taking up the sport as a professional career.

According to the three-time Africa Athletics Championship gold medalist, athletics has been on the decline over the years and the unfair treatment of athletes has also hindered the sport.

“Our sports have declined over the years and most of the youth are not interested in athletics anymore”, she said in an interview with George Mahamah on Happy Sports.

“Even if the talent is there they are not interested because of the unfair treatment of athletes in this country. Currently, there is a division now in the sport. So now I have to motivate some of these young ones so they can compete and reach my level”, she added.

Margaret Simpson is hopeful her achievements as an athlete will be emulated by the young ones coming up.

In 2014 Margaret Simpson decided to switch and compete for either Mauritius or Italy, accusing the nation’s athletics administrators of frustrating her efforts and underpaying her. She had complained of being owed a lot of monies after participating in competitions for the country.

She has been one of Ghana’s best athletes in the last decade winning medals at the African Athletics championship and the All-African Games.

Margaret Simpson won a bronze medal for Ghana at the 2005 World Athletics Championship.