Ghana’s fastest runner, Abdul-Rasheed Saminu, revealed his reasons for withdrawing from the 200m Olympic event.
Saminu claims he chose not to participate in the event, although he qualified.
Despite qualifying for both the 100m and 200m Olympic events in Paris last summer, Saminu only competed in the 100m, reaching the semi-finals.
Although a naturally gifted 200m sprinter, Saminu informed 3Sports’ Bill Eshun of his insufficient physical fitness.
“I decided to run the 200m race. I’m normally a 200m runner. I enjoy it proportionally to my endurance. I was a 200m runner, but lacked endurance after a month-long break from my season”.
Faced with a choice, Saminu, a key member of Ghana’s relay team, had to decide between the 4*100m relay and the 200m.
“I never ran 200m again. Most especially, the 4x100m needed me, and they don’t want me to run three races at the same time. So I just dropped the 200m and jumped to the 100m and the 4×100 m. Unfortunately, we couldn’t make it; it was quite disappointing.
Overcoming his Paris setback, Saminu blazed to a 9.86s finish, claiming the title of world’s fastest man in 2025.v