The 2023 African Games concluded on Saturday with a colourful ceremony to cap off 16 days of wonderful competition.
At the end of the games, Ghana amassed 69 medals overall, the country’s most medal haul in the 59-year history of the competition.
The breakdown of the medals has Ghana winning 19 Gold, 29 silver and 21 bronze, all from 10 sporting disciplines. Armwrestling chipped in the most medals, contributing 41 medals, which is 60% of the country’s total haul.
Let’s now delve into the details of where the medals came from and which athletes won them.
Weightlifting (3 medals)
Weightlifting was the first to win medals for Ghana, with all three medals coming from 21-year-old Winnifred Ntumi.
Ntumi won two silver medals in the 49k Clean-Jerk and the 49kg Snatch, before picking up gold in the overall women’s 49kg category.
Boxing (7 medals)
Boxing waited till the penultimate day of competition to deliver a stunning 4 gold medals in front of a torturous crowd at the Bukom Boxing Arena.
Commonwealth silver medalist Joseph Commey, Olympic bronze medalist Samuel Takyi, Amadu Mohammed, and Mohammed Aryeetey all secured gold in their respective weight divisions.
Abubakar Kamoko, son of Braimah Kamoko, settled for silver after losing the Cruiserweight final to Algeria’s Ousama Kanouni.
Theophilus Allotey and Janet Acquah also contributed two bronze medals in boxing, after being stopped in the semi-finals of their respective fights.
Athletics (6 medals)
Athletics brought home 6 medals, with 3 gold medals coming from Joseph Paul Amoah in the men’s 200m, Evans Cadman in the men’s high jump, and Rose Yeboah in the women’s high jump.
The men’s 4x100m relay team picked a silver after being beaten by Nigeria, and the women’s 4x100m relay team settled for bronze, while William Amponsah brought home an impressive silver medal in the men’s half marathon event.
Armwrestling (41)
Armwrestling contributed 60% of the country’s total medal haul, with multiple wrestlers picking up multiple medals in the process.
The 8 arm-wrestling medals came from Blessed Abeka, who picked two gold medals in both the women’s 60kg Right Arm and Left Arm; Edward Asamoah, who won two gold medals in both the men’s 90kg Right Arm and Left Arm; Grace Mintah, with two gold from the women’s 80kg Right Arm and Left Arm.
Godwin Sackey and Mabel Yeboah then chipped in with two gold medals in the men’s 75kg Left Arm and the women’s 55kg Right Arm respectively.
There were 19 silver medals from arm-wrestling, which came from Derrick Adu Kwakye (2), Daniel Acquah (2), Henry Otoo (2), Isaac Amugi (2), with Issah Kunya, Bukari Phildaus, Roselyn Lartey, Eugenia Ntow, Amuda Issah, Rashida Alhassan, Kadri Mariam, Amuda Mariam, Lankai Rachael, Mary Quaye, all picking up one silver medal apiece.
There were 14 bronze medals in arm-wrestling, which came from Abdul Somed Saana (2), Nunoo Perpetual, Godwin Sakey, Eugenia Ntow, Wisdom Abromekyi, Issah Kunya, Mabel Yeboah, Ackah Naa Korkor, Bukari Phildaus, Issahak Abdul, Kadri Mariam, and Mary Quaye.
Football (2 medals)
Football brought home two gold medals in both the men’s and the women’s competitions. The Black Princesses beat Nigeria 2-1 in extra time to claim the gold in Cape Coast before the Black Satellites replicated the feat by beating Uganda 1-0 in Accra on Friday.
It’s the first time one country has won gold in both the men’s and women’s football competitions at a single games.
Hockey (2 medals)
Hockey contributed a gold and a silver medal to Ghana’s medal count. The Women’s hockey team needed penalties to beat Nigeria in the final played on Friday, but the men lost their final match to Egypt on penalties, despite rallying back from 2 goals down to take the match to a shootout.
Taekwondo (2 medals)
Kelvin Amo and Kelvin Tuagbor won two silver medals for Ghana in the Taekwando over 17 category.
22-year-old Tuagbor lost the gold to Egypt’s Ganatalla Amed in the Individual Freestyle Poompsae, while 18-year-old Amuzu also lost his Individual Freestyle Poompsae to Egyptian Ahmed Hassan.
Swimming (2 medals)
Abeku Jackson won both of Ghana’s medals in swimming – a silver in the men’s 50m butterfly and a bronze in the 100m butterfly event.
Volleyball (1)
The men’s volleyball team won a bronze for Ghana, beating Cameroon 4-3 in the bronze medal match.
Ghana lost 3-1 to eventual winners, Egypt, in the semi-finals before recovering to take the bronze at the expense of Cameroon.
Basketball 3×3 (2)
Ghana picked up two medals in the basketball 3×3 held at the University of Ghana basketball courts.
The U-23 men won a silver medal after losing to Algeria 16-11 in the final.
Hannah Amoako then won a bronze in the women’s shootout contest.