Former Ghanaian athlete, Ebenezer Oko Addy
Former Ghanaian athlete, Ebenezer Charles Oko Addy has revealed the secret behind Ghana’s gold-winning feat at the 1996 Commonwealth in Jamaica.
Ghana’s 4x100m quartet comprising of Ebenezer Charles Oko Addy, Bonner K. Mends, James Aryee Addy and Stanley Fabian Allotey won gold for Ghana in grand style at the 1966 Commonwealth Games.
Oko Addy started the race for Ghana before passing on the baton to his mates who maintained Ghana’s lead to cross the line.
Speaking exclusively on GhanaWeb’s Sports Check show, the 80-year-old Ghanaian attributed their success at the games to continuous training which helped them correct all their errors before the final race.
Oko Addy said “You can sum it all up [our success] in one word, which is practice, practice, practice. We were given a 20-yard radius to change the baton.
Mends and I did our individual practice, which is number 1 and 2, when I finished he trained with number 2 and 3.”
“We will run at full speed to change the baton so that by the time you get the baton we will be in sink, at full speed.”
According to him through constant practice, they discovered that it was wrong for an athlete to stand and wait for the baton when they could have just taken off.
“I see people slow down and waiting for others to get the baton. You’re wasting time and you will never get anywhere so that was our secret,” he said.
He added, “So when we changed the baton we were at full speed ahead, it was a flawless change of baton”.
The former Ghanaian athlete, said, although “It looked easy but a lot of work went into that and that is what our Achilles hill till date.” The 1996 Commonwealth 4×100 side is the only team to have been able to win a medal in the 4x100m race.
Watch Sports Check episode with Oko Addy below