05:19 GMT 8th November 2011
Many of the countries that took part in the 15-day All Africa Games in Mozambique complained of inadequate accommodation facilities, poor results keeping and the difficulties of reaching the different venues because of traffic gridlock.
But perhaps more damaging was the fact that many of Africa's track and field stars snubbed the event to take part in other international competitions.
Of the athletes who had just won gold medals at the World Athletics Championships in D aegu, South Korea, a few days earlier, only Ethiopia's Ibrahim Jeylan - men's 10,000m - and Bostwana's Amanthle Montsho - women's 400m - bothered to travel to the Mozambique capital Maputo to reassert their dominance.
President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee, Sani Ndanusa, who was in Maputo as a member of the Association of National Olympic Committees in Africa (Anoca), described the quality of organisation at the 10th All Africa Games as sub-standard. 'Every country complained of one thing or the other,' he said. 'It is very sad.'
The first major hiccup came when members of the Ghana contingent arrived to find they had no accommodation at the games village. As the competition got underway, Nigerian officials spoke of how they had to buy certain facilities like massage beds because they had not been provided. 'We have our own intervention mechanism to checkmate their lapses,' said Nigeria's chef de Mission, Alhassan Yakmut, during the event. 'We don't even wait for official breakfast, lunch and dinner. We take food to our athletes to avoid them starving or having to stand in queues and miss their events.'
Journalists also spoke of their frustration of covering the AAG because of poor internet facilities at the media centre and delays in releasing results. 'Hours after the heats and some finals, there were no results forthcoming so the best you could do is to get the name and wait for the timings to be released, usually the following day,' said Evelyn Watta, a member of the International Sports Press Association.
But Yakmut pointed out some of the hitches experienced in Maputo should have been envisaged as Mozambique had stepped in to organise the Games after the original host, Zambia, suddenly pulled out. Mozambique was widely praised for responding quickly and building a state of the art Zimpeto athletics stadium in the 18 months left to it. In addition to the $65m bill for the 40, 000 capacity stadium, $50m was spent on revamping other sports facilities.
'Mozambique is not to be blamed,' declared Yakmut. 'They came into the frame two years ago when Zambia pulled out and did not have enough time to meet all the arrangements and prepare the facilities for the Games.'
According to Watta, the four-yearly AAG needs to be completely overhauled in order to be on a par with other international events, and this included offering prize money for medal winners.
'A change of structure is the only way out to raise the standards of the AAG and ensure Africa's top talents compete at it,' she explained. 'This would also attract sponsorship, which could then translate into some prize money for the medalists.'
One factor reducing the AAG's standing is the fact that athletes cannot qualify for the Olympics at the AAG, a source of frustration for the continent's Olympics chiefs. Indeed, the AAG is not organised by Anoca but the Supreme Council for Sport in Africa (SCSA), which represents sports ministers from across the continent.
Beatrice Alien, a Gambian member of the International Olympic Committee, said that the issue of Anoca staging the Games was discussed 'superficially' during the Anoca general assembly in Maputo and with that qualification for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016.
At the moment, she said, 'Anoca is not a party to decisions made in the selection of venues and sports for the All Africa Games even though the Olympic movement contributes a lot of resources to the Games'.
Anoca officials were due to meet with their SCSA counterparts to further discuss the problem.
The host nation's decision to exclude some of the most popular sports - among them weightlifting, wrestling, hockey and powerlifting - was another source of anger.
'These are vital sports that the Olympics cannot do without so I wonder at the kind of All Africa Games we are staging,' said Jonathan Nnaji, president of the Taekwondo Federation of Nigeria.
'This is not good for the development of sports in Africa as a whole.'
The AAG's Local Organising Committee (LOC) accepted responsibility for some of the problems people complained about. Referring to the accommodation problems encountered by the Ghanaian team, its spokesperson Penalva Cezar told reporters that other countries that had exceeded the number of athletes registered for the Games had occupied the flats illegally.
But overall the LOC media chief expressed satisfaction with the AAG saying, 'We are very happy with the event, the delegates were happy and the competition was a success.'
Despite the many problems that blighted the AAG, there was a huge buzz of excitement as athletes from 48 nations produced a number of memorable performances in the 23 sports showcased.
Sports powerhouse South Africa collected most of the swimming gold medals in the opening days of the competition, immediately taking it to the top of the medal standings, a position it maintained to the very end. Egypt had a total of 66 medals comprising 32 gold, 14 silver and 22 bronze beating Nigeria to the second place by just one gold medaL Tunisia, Algeria, Kenya and Senegal were placed fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh. Minnows Togo, Sao Tome and Principe, and Liberia appeared on the medals table with one bronze each.
As usual, Kenya and Ethiopia dominated the middle and long distance races, but the latter stunned everyone when, for the first time at the AAG, it swept the board in the men's steeplechase. Birhan Getahun took gold in 8min, 17.4 sec, with Roba Gari, fifth in Daegu, taking silver in 8:18.4, and Sisay Koreme Mojo 8:20.70 bronze. The top placed Kenyan was Jairus Birech (8:21.3) in fourth place.
Egypt were the surprise gold medalists in the men's 100m with Amr Ibraim Seoud crossing the finish line in 10.20 sec to beat African champion Ben Youssef Meite of Cote d'Ivoire and Nigeria's Obinna Metu to second and third place respectively. Nigeria dominated the women's 100m, with the winner Oludamola Osayomi retaining her AAG title in 10.90 sec. Blessing Okagbare came second in 11.01 sec, and Gloria Asunmu third in 11.26 sec.
Osayomi won two more golds, in the 200m and 4xl00m relay, making her the AAG's most successful athlete.
Nigeria dominated in athletics, picking a total of 42 medals comprising 18 gold, 13 silver and 11 bronze. It emerged the best country in athletics with 21 medals comprising 10 gold, six silver and five bronze medals. In second place was Ethiopia with 20 medals with six gold, seven silver and seven bronze medals, while Kenya finished third after winning 17 medals - five gold, five silver and seven bronze medals.
South Africa led all the way and eventually emerged overall winner for the third time in the history of the AAG with a total of 156 medals comprised of 61 gold, 55 silver and 40 bronze. Egypt with 66 medals (32 gold, 14 silver, 20 bronze) finished second while Nigeria's 98 medals (31 gold, 28 silver and 39 bronze) earned her the third position.
no comments
