; Urges Unity



Ahead of the Ghana Athletics Association’s elective congress on Saturday 14th November, Eric Nkansah, one of Ghana's best ever sprinters, has endorsed Prof. Francis Dodoo and is urging the athletics family to unite and work as a team.

The congress will bring together all stakeholders in the association consisting of regional executives, coaches and athlete representatives, and both former and current national executives of the GAA.

Among other things, the general assembly will review the association’s performance for the last four years and elect new officers into office.

But a key highlight of the congress will be the contest between the incumbent GAA President Prof. Francis Dodoo and former GAA Chairman George Lutterodt (2001-1004) for the presidency.

The 2003 All Africa Games 4x100m relay gold medalist, Eric Nkansah, feels Prof. Dodoo is the best man for the job despite having run as an athlete under George Lutterodt in the past.

“What the past chairman did and what this current chairman is doing, you have to judge it. I can say I want Prof. Francis Dodoo to continue with whatever he is doing but he needs support. He needs to work as a team so that at the end of the year, Ghana athletics will benefit. Even if George Lutterodt has any ideas, he has to join together with Francis Dodoo and move athletics forward,” Nkansah told www.liquidsportsghana.com from his base in the USA.

He added, “I think I have seen both candidates on Asempa Fm’s Fire for Fire. What I will like to say is that, it’s not about talking or it’s not about being the GAA Chairman but my main problem is support, come together, work together as a team and move Ghana athletics up,”

Reacting to recent comments by George Lutterodt which sort to paint a rosy picture of athletics Ghana under his reign, Nkansah expressed his displeasure at the lack of support from the GAA during their time.

“He (George Lutterodt) was so lucky he got world class athletes, that time we were the world class athletes. If he helped us as the chairman, I think we’re supposed to win some Olympic medals and other stuff,” he said.

“We helped ourselves to win medals. Even we helped the country. We camped ourselves with our own money. Right now, he is talking about those days. If he had helped us, I think Ghana would have won a lot of medals from the World Championships.”

Nkansah, who was one of the foremost national sprinters with a personal best of 10.00 between 1996 and 2004, was keen to compare the two administrations.

“Right now, Francis Dodoo is there, he has to call all these guys together to work to move athletes forward. He is not lucky he did not get world class athletes like us. He tried to groom some athletes. He tried to push some athletes to the top positions. He is trying. He is not there yet but Lutterodt was so lucky having such athletes like myself, Leo, counting about 10 world class athletes or more.

“But what did George Lutterodt do when he was chairman?” he quipped adding that, “I heard from his conversation with Songo on Asempa Fm, he was talking about 2003 when we won medals in Abuja and the World Championships. I was then in Germany, all the guys came to Germany and stayed with me. We camped ourselves, we did everything by ourselves because we were always fighting to go to camp on time so that we can perform.”

Nkansah added, “So we found out he will not support us, so we did everything by ourselves and we showed them good results in Abuja. And now he is talking about his time. I want them to ask him, what he did to get us those gold medals? I’m not trying to say he didn’t do good but I’m saying that our time, he was lucky that he had world class athletes.”

Eric Nkansah’s view on what exactly transpired prior to the All Africa Games in Abuja 2003 has been backed up by several athletes who competed in the Games, including triple jumper Andrew Owusu and former national sprinter Leo Myles-Mills.

In a separate interview with www.liquidsportsghana.com, Myles-Mills was equally surprised that the former GAA Chairman George Lutterodt tried to claim credit for the team’s success in Abuja in his interview on Asempa Fm’s “Fire for Fire” programme about three weeks ago.

“I remember he made a statement about Abuja. In 2003, some of us put ourselves in camp from the World Championships. We heard lies somebody was bringing our per diem but it never came and miraculously I was dropped from the team. They said he is this, that. The performances were great: gold, silver and bronze. Leo, Margaret, Gaisah, relay teams all won medals,” Leo Myles-Mills summed up.