Rose Amoanimaa Yeboah, the Ghanaian high jumper who won gold at the just-ended African Games, is in pole position to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
With three months to the start of the quadrennial affair, Ghanaians have been worried that no athlete has yet qualified in any sport.
Indeed, one of the main hopes of the African Games being hosted in Ghana was the fact that home support could spur some of the nation’s athletes to clock times, distances and heights that could propel them to Paris.
With the African Games ending on Saturday, Joy Sports’ analysis of the Olympic criteria suggests that barring seismic circumstances, the 22-year-old should be there.
The calculation
According to the Olympic Games criteria, 32 athletes are eligible to participate in the women’s high jump in Paris. To automatically qualify by entry standard, a mark of 1.97m has been set. This means that an athlete will have to jump 1.97m, at least between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024, to get in. The second way to qualify is through rankings, ie, an athlete must amass a certain number of points.
As we speak, only ten athletes so far have hit the entry standard of 1.97m. The list of the ten athletes is below.
For athletes, the more recognized competitions they participate in, the better their chances of hitting the qualification mark or improving their rankings. This is why it was important for Yeboah to be in Accra for the Games. Once she did, two things happened: even though she jumped 1.90m, the height was good enough for a gold medal, but not good enough to qualify her to Paris by automatic entry.
However, her rankings shot up so much that she moved from 26th to 18th position.
Joy Sports understands that the chances of the Ghanaian not making it to Paris 2024 with 1189 points is extremely slim, considering that there are very few international championships available for other athletes to knock Yeboah out of the top 32 qualifiers.
Up next for her is the African Championships slated for Cameroon in June. If she is able to make it there, she could amass more points to further cement her place. She is also expected to take part in the NCAA outdoor season, where more points are up for grabs.
With all these factors considered, Yeboah is expected to be among the top 32 qualifiers in the world by June 30 to get her into the Olympic Games.