Marrakech 2014: Elizabeth Dadzie succeeds Margaret Simpson with heptathlon silver at African Athletics Championships

Multi talented athlete Elizabeth Dadzie has succeeded Margaret Simpson as Ghana’s heptathlon Queen after winning a silver medal with a personal best of 5286pts at the 19th African Athletics Championship in Marrakech, Morocco.
The Iowa Central College (USA) student, who only started the combined events in January, came second with 5286pts (PB) after winning the 800m final which was the last event in the heptathlon.

Burkina Faso’s Marthe Koala won with 5454pts pts while South Africa’s Biana Erwee came third 5086pts in a hotly contested competition.

The three athletes took advantage of the misfortune of Algeria’s Yasmina Omrani who sustained an ankle injury during the long jump event on day two of the combined events.

Yasmina had by then established an early lead but the unfortunate injury derailed her ambitions.
Dadzie, who was making her senior debut in the heptathlon, started her campaign on a bright note clocking a personal best of 14.28 in the hurdles but she did herself no favours with a below par performance in the high jump, clearing the bar at 1.57m.
To her credit, the former T. I. Amass Secondary School student finished strongly with a personal best of 10.71m in the shot put, coupled with a 25.30 clocking in the 200m to finish the first day.
On the last day of the heptathlon, the reigning US Juco Outdoor heptathlon champion came second in the long jump with a leap of 5.96m, 38.70m in the javelin throw before wrapping up with victory in the 800m in 2:26.91.
Dadzie has now succeeded her mentor and former African heptathlon Queen, Margaret Simpson as the nation’s new multi event specialist. Dadzie is one of fifteen young athletes who are currently on a Ghana Athletics Association sourced student-academic scholarships to Colleges in the USA.

This is the first time that Ghana has won two medals in the combined events following Atsu Nyamadi’s historic bronze medal feat in the men’s decathlon.
Ghana has won five medals at the African Athletics Championships this far.

Results:
1. Marthe Koala Burkina Faso 5454
2. Elizabeth Dadzie Ghana 5286
3. Biana Erwee South Africa 5086