Black Meteors Olympic dreams fading as positions strengthen

Published on: 15 January 2011

The Black Meteors’ participation at the Olympic Games has been thrown into further doubt as Ghana is unlikely to resolve its difference with the IOC any time soon.

Ghana has got probably the strongest U23 team expected to play at the 2012 London Olympics but a global suspension from the body on Thursday has put their participation in danger.

B.T. Baba, who is disputing a Ghana Olympic Committee presidential election loss to the government-backed Francis Dodoo, says the International Olympic Committee is still at odds with Ghana's government.

The IOC has suspended the Ghana Olympic Committee for government interference, although IOC president Jacques Rogge said he was hopeful the situation in the west African country would be resolved "as soon as possible." Ghana fields one of the world's top under-23 soccer teams.

Baba told the AP that his country's Olympic committee was taking Ghana's government to court over what he called "human rights breaches," after a raid on the committee offices by members of an anti-fraud unit.

The dispute could lead to a battle for control of the Olympic body.

"Ghana's suspension is likely to run for a while," Baba said.

"We are going to use that forum (the court case) to defend ourselves against the government-supported group that wanted to oust us from office."

Ghana's government is believed to want Dodoo, a former Olympic triple jumper, as the head of its Olympic body, in breach of IOC rules that do not allow governments to interfere in national Olympic committees and their election processes.

A high court in Accra has ruled against the government interference in the nation's Olympic committee, Baba said, and the case will be heard Friday after three postponements. Baba said he was unsure of the government's response to the legal action.

On Thursday, Rogge said the International Olympic Committee's executive board had taken the decision to suspend Ghana after months of fruitless negotiations with Ghanaian officials.

It means Ghana's Olympic committee will no longer receive IOC funding, its officials are banned from attending Olympic events and Ghana's athletes are barred from competing in the Olympics.

It also means Ghana's young soccer players, who won the under-20 World Cup in 2009, could miss out on the competition in London.

Ghana has won four Olympic medals — a silver in boxing in 1960, bronzes in boxing in 1964 and 1972, and a bronze in men's soccer in 1992. Ghana sent about a dozen athletes to the 2008 Beijing Games.

Soccer is easily the country's most popular sport and is likely to be hardest hit by an Olympic ban. Following the under-20 success, Ghana's men's national team reached the final of the 2010 African Cup of Nations and the quarterfinals of the World Cup in South Africa.

Ghanaian soccer has also been in trouble with FIFA because of government interference.

In December, FIFA gave the Ghana Football Association an ultimatum to end government interference in its business or face an international ban.

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