Ghana’s 4x100m relay team has officially been disqualified for making the baton change outside the zone in the final leg which saw them finished 6th in Heat 2.
The incident occurred during the final leg of the race when the athletes mistakenly exchanged the baton outside the designated zone, causing the team to lose their place in the competition.
The race was fraught with challenges for the Ghanaian team from the very beginning.
The quartet, consisting of Abdul Rasheed Saminu, Benjamin Azamati, Ibrahim Fuseini and Joseph Paul Amoah, initially finished 6th with a time of 38.62 seconds but were later disqualified due to a late baton exchange.
China finished tops in a time of 38.24 seconds followed by France with 38.34 seconds and Canada in third place within 38.39 seconds.
China’s Xie Zhenye (4th left at back) and Deng Zhijian (3rd R back) of team China compete during the men’s 4X100m relay round 1 of Athletics at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, Aug. 8, 2024
The disqualification is a repeat of a similar error at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where Ghana also missed out on a medal due to a changeover violation.
Ghana’s overall campaign in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games ended without a medal. The team’s performance was marred by earlier disappointments – swimmer Harry Stacey did not advance past the heats, Joselle Mensah failed to progress while Rose Amoaniwaa Yeboah also did not make it to the high jump final.
It was only Benjamin Azamati and Rasheed Saminu who managed to progress to the semi-finals in the men’s 100m race, but they could not advance to the final.
