Ghana’s Olympic dream is over after the men’s 4x100m relay team was disqualified in the heats of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
The African Games record holders, who were looking to make amends for a similar fate at the Tokyo 2020 Games, suffered a déjà vu moment as they were again found to have broken the changeover zone rule.
Even without the disqualification, Ghana would have struggled to reach the final. A botched baton exchange and erratic running would have seen the quartet of Ibrahim Fuseini, Benjamin Azamati, Abdul-Rasheed Saminu, and Joseph Paul Amoah finish sixth in their heat with a time of 38.62 seconds, 0.23 seconds shy of a qualifying spot.
China, France, and Canada progressed to the final, while Jamaica, featuring 100m silver medallist Kishane Thompson, also suffered a shock exit after dropping the baton twice.
Ghana’s men’s 4x100m relay team’s early exit brings a disappointing end to the nation’s 2024 Olympic campaign, with early exits for high jumper Rose Amoanimaa Yeboah and swimmers Joselle Mensah and Harry Stacey, while Saminu and Azamati reached the men’s 100m semi-finals before bowing out.
