Indeed, "if wishes were horses, beggars would ride", so says the sages. It would have been much ideal if the world had been blessed with same resources be it human or material but each land has its own blessing. However, it cannot always be the same without much effort, thorough contemplation, consistent training and other considerations.Â
At last Sunday's 100-metre finals at the ongoing Rio Olympics, Bolt needed just 41 mighty strides at the lightning pace from the half-way mark to outrun his USA challenger, Justin Gatlin who had a magnificent take-off to take the lead. And it was the fastest finishing ever, with the Jamaican crossing the finishing line at 9.81 seconds, even though he did not break his own record of 9.58 seconds set at the Beijing Games.
There and then, it was obvious that Bolt would defend his two other gold medals in the 200 metres and men's 100x4 metres he won in the two previous meets. Just imagine that within a matter of eight years, the 29-year-old Jamaican has amassed nine gold medals at such a highest point of competition such as the Olympic Games, and in the sprint events much dreaded, exciting and enviable competition.
That is an incredible achievement of a legend with a character such as Usain Bolt. Such a three-time achievement is rare; remember Brazil's incredulous Pele who won three World Cups in 1958 in Sweden, 1962 in Chile and 1970 in Mexico and pronounced his retirement from the competition, and also the Great Muhammad Ali who won the World Heavyweight crown on three historic occasions to position himself as a legend in the art of self-defence. How amazing!
Here in Ghana, we are struggling to survive, and at the Rio Games, it would have been a case of great jubilation if one of our 16-member contingent had put our name on the medal table like Fiji and the other small nations who have found their way to the bottom of the ladder, and are counting themselves as worthy competitors in the global competition.Â
African countries such as South Africa, Ethiopia, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and Morocco are making their citizens at home happy with some sterling performances, and at the dying embers of the Games, the expectation is that when the worst happens, they would be mentioned in dispatches by the organisers of Rio 2016.
I do believe that the Ghanaian contingent would return home proclaiming that it was worth the experience to participate in the Games, and that the exposure was worthwhile, something which would give our sportsmen and women that needed inspiration to move ahead and prepare for a better future and I am expecting the President of the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC), Professor Francis Dodoo to call a press conference and say all these. Of course, this stereotype excuses are symbolically Ghanaian, no matter how fed up we are with all that.
How different will it look like when our women's national team, the Black Queens accepted an invitation to play their German counterparts who had qualified for the Olympic Games and needed a warm-up match to sharpen their goal-scoring tactics? And without checking themselves, a poorly-prepared Queens just travelled to Germany only to be be given nightmarish experience of losing 11-0. Shamelessly, the leaders of the team came back and without any apology to the nation, but to tell the world that it was a good exposure and a lesson for future competitions.
Before independent from colonial rule, Ghana attended the Helsinki Games in 1956 and came back bragging that we had discovered new talents who would be nurtured to shake the world just as Jamaica is doing today. And fore sure, we confidently attended the 1960 Games in Rome and came back with  one silver medal, courtesy Robert Kotei's high jump success which made black Africa proud. Then our young Black Bombers rose up to claim some bronze medals at some subsequent Olympic Games.
It must be noted that the recent Ghanaian contingent was the poorest assemblage for such competitions as they barely qualified, but never looked like breaking through to make their presence felt. Olympic Games is the highest sporting arena, and that it is no grounds for experimentation. The Americans and Canadians dropped some of their athletes they considered not meriting the journey. But we took everybody who qualified there without identifying the potential medal winners and those who would go there to disgrace the nation after that "kente" opening ceremony.
Prior to the games, a statement issued by the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) had said for lack of funds to prepare the contingent adequately, no one should be surprised if we went there and came back empty-handed. The writing was on the wall already, but for obvious purposes, people had to be there since philanthropic individuals and corporate organisations would donate for the journey.
 Have we as a country thought of the fact that our standards are falling as against others such as Jamaica which continually keep improving on their standards? One would have wished Team Ghana had one " Usain Bolt" to make us proud.