WHAT ARE THE LESSONS LEARNED?
Monrovia, Liberia – Having placed 33rd in the just concluded 2023 ALL African Games in Ghana, what are the takeaways for Liberia? The competition included four different athletic disciplines, and four medals were awarded. However, Liberia did not have a gold medal to wear. What does Liberia’s performance at the competition’s pinnacle mean?
With the exception of a few who missed marks because they didn’t comprehend the conditions, most of the elite athletes invited to represent Liberia at the competition performed incredibly well.
The boxing team took home a bronze medal, which was followed by another silver by the Scrabble National Team. The athletics team took home two medals: a silver in the women’s 100m and a bronze in the 4×100 relay.
The allure of individual sports is that, as in the 100-meter and 4×100-meter relay events, a single victor represents the entire team. For the remainder of the team, Maia Mccoy’s dominant result in the women’s 100-meter race was crucial. In the process, athletes such as Ebony Morrison, Shania Collins, and Destiny Smith Barnett were covered. In the 4×100 relay, medals were won by Emmanuel Matadi, Joseph Fahnbulleh, Jabez Reeves, and John Sherman following individual performances.
In the boxing competition, things were different. While all of the male boxers fared appallingly, only one female competitor, Canadian-born Grace Fahnbulleh, took home the bronze medal. The only boxer from the country, Timothy Williams, was the least successful performer of the night, behind Jeroson Barkin and Freddy Kiwit, who are both based in the US and Germany.
The Liberia National Scrabble Team was the event’s surprise act; they earned silver after falling to Uganda in the grand final. The poorest performing sports or disciplines were Liberia Table Tennis and Liberia Taekwondo National Teams. Both disciplines did not win a single game at the event.
The reason for the Liberian Taekwondo team’s low performance was the federation’s inability to train athletes in the new applications that the parent body had introduced. The competitors from Liberia displayed below-average performance levels during the tournament.
Observation
With the exception of two male boxers, namely Freddy Kiwit and Jeroson Barkin, all other foreign athletes secured medals in their respective divisions. Local athletes Nancy Tokpah, Arthor Koikoi, Timothy Williams, a boxer, Janga Kamara, Mustapha Kromah, and Enoch Gardea, as well as the lone female competitor Stana Ramiraz, who did not compete due to her late arrival, went home empty-handed.
Liberian sports are devoid of numerous items, such as appropriate preparation, supports, and conveniences. You will find it interesting to hear that a large number of the local athletes that were brought to the competition were ill-prepared, leaving them vulnerable the entire time.
Lessons learned:
One of the main reasons why sports in Liberia are dying is a lack of facilities. While financial assistance and facilities were big challenges, local athletes wanted to give it their all.
The government should start creating youth activity centers and increasing the capacity of numerous local coaches if local Liberian athletes are to perform better in feature contests.
Ghana’s performance at the just-concluded tournament proved to the world that they are prepared for sports. Even though their squad didn’t perform as expected, the sporting facilities set up for the competition are all of the highest caliber. Nevertheless, Nigeria, South Africa, Algeria, and Tunisia trailed behind Egypt, the tournament victor, who earned 99 gold medals, bringing the total to 187, including silver and bronze medals. Egypt won 29 silver, 20 bronze, and 19 gold medals.
There were about 3500 athletes, over 3000 technical personnel, including journalists and administrators, who participated in 29 sports across nine venues, with three host cities: Kumasi, Cape Coast, and Accra. Only five of the 29 sports were played in Liberia: table tennis, boxing, athletics, taekwondo, and scrabble.
Reported by: Sylvester Tamba
Contact: +231776687195
