Beyond the relay: Ghana seeks multiple paths to Paris 2024 

More Ghanaian athletes will be looking to qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympics next month when the country hosts the 2024 Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) Region II Seniors Athletics Championship from June 3-6, 2024, at the Legon Stadium.

Currently, only the men's 4x100m relay team has qualified for the Olympics. The CAA Region II Athletics Championship represents one of two major opportunities for Ghanaian athletes to qualify.

Ghana is also hoping to secure two universality slots if its swimmers do not meet the Olympic Qualification Time (OQT) before the qualification deadline.

Speaking to the Graphic Sports on the sidelines of the inauguration of the Dr Kwame Baah Nuakoh-led Local Organising Committee for the tournament, the President of Ghana Athletics, Bawah Fuseini, said Ghana, like the 15 participating nations from West Africa, would be presenting a contingent of 30 athletes for the championship.

He said Ghana's contingent would be a mix of foreign-based and local athletes who would be selected based on performance and their rankings.

"It will be difficult to give a specific number of athletes we want to qualify (for the Olympics)," Fuseini said, "But we have some contenders in some events that we are confident about. For instance, we have hopes for the 100 metres, 200 metres, 10,000 metres, and the high jump."

Fuseini added that Ghana's foreign-based athletes, particularly those in the United States, could qualify through college athletics conferences. The final opportunity for the athletes would be the African Championships in Athletics slated for June 15-25 in Douala, Cameroun.

Congratulating the men's 4x100m relay team on their qualification, Fuseini called for more investment to prepare them adequately for the Olympics.

"Relays are about practice," he said. "The more you practice as a team in competition, the better you become. So, we need funding to enter them as a team in different competitions before the Olympics."