Deborah Acquah competes during the Women's Long Jump Final on day ten of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. GETTY IMAGES

Ghana's women's long jump record holder, Deborah Acquah, stated  president of the Ghana Olympic Committee, Ben Nunoo Mensah, failed to deliver on his promise to provide her support after she injured her Achilles at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene: a claim that Mensah has denied.

In an interview with Joy Sports Acquah further said that she was denied financial support despite the Ministry of Youth and Sports extending the same to two other athletes.

"I got injured in Eugene [during the World Athletics Championships]. It was in Eugene that my Achilles started, and I have been battling it after the Commonwealth Games [in Birmingham]. I think it was a month after, so I couldn't see my trainer because, when you're done with school, you can only train with the facilities, but you can't see your trainer," Acquah explained in an interview with Joy Sports.

"I resorted to massaging myself. I won't lie to you. The only thing I could do was buy a massage gun and use it." she continued.



Despite the lead-up to the Birmingham Commonwealth Games filled with uncertainty for Acquah —with visa delays interrupting her training—she persevered and won a bronze medal for Ghana.

"I didn't want to go to  Birmingham, but then, the Ghana officials, and I don't want to mention names because they know themselves, promised to take care of me if I went to  Birmingham to compete, so I went." she said about the event.

"Initially, they said they would get a doctor to take care of me in Ghana once we returned. But when we got back, I didn't hear anything from them… They then said I should go back to the US and they would find money for me to see a specialist here. That money didn't come either." the long jumper explained further.

GOC President Mensah responded to the claims saying he wasn't the one who convinced her to compete with an injury and that any funds due to her had already been awarded.

"When we came I raised that up to the Minister...she came to Ghana alright. The meeting with the Presidency for medal winners never happened but we made sure that whatever money was due her for winning medal was given to her. At the time the money was ready she had left. I called her and she said she had asked someone to collect it." Mensah clarified.

"The other promise I made to Deborah was that I was going to put her on Olympic Scholarship...which I did. Deborah is currently on a GOC SCholarship where she gets $750 a month since after I met her."

Deborah Acquah’s bronze-medal win at the 2022 Commonwealth Games had propelled Ghana to a historic first-ever medal in the women’s long jump event.