Healing Ahead for New Ghana Olympic Committee

(ATR) The president-elect of the Ghana Olympic Committee says it needs to heal its rift ahead of the 2012 Olympics.

Francis Dodoo was elected GOC president in a landslide at a contentious election over the weekend. The loser, Francis Appiah, said he will appeal the results to the IOC. He claims that because he and other delegates left the meeting, no votes should have been cast in the election.

The election started Saturday night, but had to be suspended when delegates began fighting with each other. Voting resumed in the early hours of Sunday. The presence of armed guards helped insure only words and not fists were thrown during the 19-hour meeting.

In his acceptance speech, Dodoo said: "One thing that today has taught us is the need to heal the rift that exists among us. We plan to use this mandate to execute that and take care of all responsibility and work with all stakeholders to ensure success."

As reported by Around the Rings, members of the Dodoo camp feared the outgoing president, Benson Baba, had rigged the elections to ensure Appiah would win. But Dodoo’s substantial margin of victory would seem to indicate those fears were not warranted.

While ATR managed to contact Dodoo by phone several times in the hours following his election, the Olympic triple jumper kept putting off making comments.

"We know there is a lot of work to be done between now and the London 2012 Olympics and the short time we have to do that," Dodoo said in his speech, as reported by Ghanaian press.

"However, we take this mandate very seriously and know our role, which is to serve.

"We will work hard to prove that everything that happened here today was worth it and ensure that the youth of this country become the ultimate winners."

Appiah, a GOC vice president in the previous administration, told the AP the votewas "not properly conducted" and he would contest the results of the election.

The IOC had no immediate comment on the vote. IOC sources have told ATR that the Ghana NOC could face suspension again if the election is ruled invalid.

Dodoo is unlikely to celebrate his victory just yet. In 2009, he was in a similar position, defeating Baba. But Baba was eventually reinstated and the election triggered a two-year crisis for the GOC. The low point of the period came when the IOC suspended the GOC, a ban lifted four months ago.

Also unclear for Dodoo is where he will live. He is a professor at Pennsylvania State University in the United States. He has maintained his position at the school while serving as president of the Ghana Athletics Association.

Written and reported by Ed Hula III

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