Commonwealth Games
Michael Oti Adjei, Special to ESPN 6y

Teen sprinter a bright light for embattled Ghana

Ghana's participation at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast has been overshadowed by a visa scandal, but a young athlete has provided a silver lining for the embattled team.

Over 50 Ghanaians were deported from Australia for posing as journalists to secure visas, and that story has been the main headline from the Games for the African nation.

It's not been much better on the sports field, with not a medal to be found, and the women's hockey team shipping 27 goals in four games, while scoring only one, epitomizing the group's experience.

Athletics has, however, provided some hope. There were two individual performances that officials at the Ghana Athletics Association will be keen to build on, given the alarming lack of success on that stage.

Akua Obeng Akrofi's 52.44s in the semifinals of the women's 400m was the fastest time by a Ghanaian woman in 15 years. It seems inevitable that the Columbia University student will break Mercy Addy's national record of 52.09 secs over that distance.

But the star on the track for Ghana is Hor Halutie. The 19-year-old has not won a medal, and is unlikely to do so, but she will leave Gold Coast carrying the hopes of a nation that a new track star is emerging.

Halutie finished last in the 100m final, having run a personal best of 11.45s in the semis, which is no big deal until you consider the context. She is a teenager who has had to train using the most basic facilities at a high school in Ghana.

Her appearance in the final was the first by a Ghanaian in the sprints at the Commonwealth Games, or at any major event including the World Championships and Olympics, since Aziz Zakari finished fifth in the Commonwealth final in 2006.

"Seeing her in the final in Australia felt good because this is her first major international event and she showed a lot of promise," Anselm Nyavedzie, who discovered Halutie at a junior event in Ghana, told KweséESPN.

"It has been a while since a Ghanaian appeared in a major final so there is something there for us to build on."

There are those urging caution, though. Ghana triple jump record holder Andrew Owusu is one of them. 

"The potential is definitely there, although I am more impressed by the fact that as a first-timer, the setting as a global event, did not intimidate her," Owusu told KweséESPN.

"However, we should not start treating Hor as though she has made it. She has simply advanced to the next level of performance at much quicker clip than was expected; a sign of world class potential." 

Nyavedzie, who has supervised the development of some of Ghana's biggest athletes at the AMASS High School, has a clear idea about the path Halutie needs to take.

"There has been significant interest in her from schools in the US so I hope we can make the best decision for her, because she will develop properly with the best training facilities and everything else at his disposal," Nyavedzie added.

Halutie seems keen to make that journey, having left her home in northern Ghana to Kumasi with an eye on athletics career. When she eventually gets the chance, Owusu reckons there are a few more stages of development for her to go through.

"I would say there are at least three more performance levels to move through; 11.20-11.35, 11.00 -11.19 and sub 11. Just by hard work, maturation and lots of competition, she can get in the 11:20 - 11:35 range," he said.

"But to run faster than 11.20, her mechanics needs to improve. The earlier corrections are made, the better; you don't want performance limiting mechanics to become ingrained."

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