Paris 2024 Swimming Hopes: Wildcards offer chance, but qualification race continues

Ghana’s path to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games swimming event remains uncertain, with Ghana Swimming Association (GSA) President Delphina Quaye acknowledging that the ongoing qualification process could impact their allocated wildcards.

In an exclusive interview with asaaseradio.com, Quaye explained that upcoming continental and global qualifying tournaments, including the 16th Africa Aquatics Championships in Luanda, Angola, from 1–5 May, 2024, could see Ghana lose its wildcards if any swimmer achieves the qualifying standard.

“For the Olympics, they give countries that doesn’t qualify for swimming wildcards,” Quaye said. “So if you don’t qualify, you have one male [and] one female to attend; that is the rule, so the moment somebody qualifies, we will lose that wildcard.”

“There are other competitions coming up; there is one coming up in Angola and I mean some around the world so some of our swimmers will be going if they get the qualification fine; If they don’t get the qualification, then the two wildcards will be selected to go.”

The GSA President clarified that the federation won’t decide who receives the wildcards. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) or World Aquatics will likely use a points system based on performances in World Aquatics-affiliated competitions to determine Ghana’s top male and female swimmers.

“We don’t decide,” Quaye explained. “It’s decided by the IOC or World Aquatics. Every competition that we do that’s affiliated to World Aquatics we have a points system, a data system where all the points goes in so they’ll look at the table and see who is the best male here in Ghana who has the most points [and is the best] female in Ghana and they will decide for us; we don’t decide.”

Quaye further revealed that a decision could come by the end of May: “Getting to end of May is where we will get who the two wildcards are but until then, there are still qualifiers going on around the world.”

13th African Games bronze and silver medalist Abeiku Jackson, who previously competed in the 2016 and 2020 Olympics via wildcards, is expected to be a strong contender for selection. The 23-year-old’s performance at the African Games makes him a likely beneficiary of this opportunity.

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