Ghanaians celebrating the Men’s relay team’s qualification for the 4x100m final at the Tokyo Olympics Games were in no mood to hear anything negative about the nation’s new darlings.
It’s no surprise therefore that an apparent attempt to disrespect the team’s efforts was met with a swift and strong response from the Ghanaian public.
American, Shalise Manza Young, a columnist for Yahoo Sports who was seemingly disappointed by Team USA’s sixth-place finish in Heat 2 of the Men’s 4x100m on Wednesday morning, tweeted her surprise that the USA finished behind Ghana.
“They lost to Ghana, y’all. GHANA,” her tweet said.
Ghanaians, of course, did not take too kindly to her comments and jumped on the tweet with some very strong comebacks.
The replies were savage, with most people upset that a sportswriter would so deliberately scoff at another sports team’s exploits.
Here are some of the replies to her original tweet:
You need to learn to respect the efforts of others, especially in sports. Respect and dignity may not be an American trait, but don’t become a poster for arrogance.
— Kizito Aidam (@Kizitodada) August 5, 2021
Sorry, you lost to the best! https://t.co/lvOlKo2VdE
— Katakyie K. Karikari (@Okat_KKarikari) August 5, 2021
You have been losing to Ghana in football sorry soccer as well. Y’all, GHANA. https://t.co/5eTd6VtcKH
— 🆃🅴🅸🅺🅾 (@thefanchoco_) August 5, 2021
Okay. Let me help you.
Good sportsmanship is one of life’s lessons that everyone must appreciate. RESPECTING one’s opponents, and being able to lose gracefully is a sign of courtesy. https://t.co/JwHuG5R8OY— Tenu (@TENU_Vi) August 5, 2021
We’ve extended breaking your hearts from football/Soccer to Athletics 😎😎🇬🇭🇬🇭🇬🇭🇬🇭🇬🇭🇬🇭🇬🇭🇬🇭🇬🇭🇬🇭🇬🇭🇬🇭
— Kwame Asante (@_kwameasante01) August 5, 2021
And you repeated Ghana twice?This hate is racial. Were Ghanaians born with one leg or born to be under 🇺🇸 relay team anytime we compete? This hate has no root but sentimental in judgement. Make your post clearer next time so you don’t undermine a whole nation or an individual.
— Emmanuel Ampadu (@EmmaAmpadu) August 5, 2021
Cry pic.twitter.com/YXv2Kgq1fm
— Parzival (@jonathanashun) August 5, 2021
We are proudly Ghanaians 🇬🇭🇬🇭🇬🇭🇬🇭
— Seth Sarpong 🇬🇭 (@SethSar47819413) August 5, 2021
The only thing in you country that is better than ours is your currency.
— Bra. Mike 🇬🇭 (@no_two_ways) August 5, 2021
No be bad leadership and wickedness like you no go get chance talk this.
Remember that 96 team like it was today. They would have won a medal. Seriously
The officials went shopping in ATL and forgot to register the guys for the finals. That was very disappointing. https://t.co/qOy7dJ6iA3
— Mawuena (@Bryte_Doe_) August 5, 2021
You lost to Ghana TWICE! https://t.co/73TaWSm5I1 pic.twitter.com/WCS1zUWhwH
— ℝ𝕠𝕪𝕒𝕝𝕥𝕪😈 (@Royaltycfc) August 5, 2021
which of your athletes ain’t Ghanaian?
They are all ours, get your guys on the tracks henceforth and you won’t win even a vacuum flask
— Aqua C (@sarkodie_king) August 5, 2021
Given the number of replies, it wasn’t long until she noticed that Ghanaians weren’t happy with her.
While she acknowledged this in a subsequent tweet, she, however, did not apologise for her initial comments.
Ghanaian people upset with me. oops.
— shalise manza young (@shalisemyoung) August 5, 2021
The two tweets have since been deleted.
The Ghanaians, who will be in Lane 2, will face off against Germany Canada, Jamaica, Great Britain, China, Italy and Japan.
The quartet will be hoping to win Ghana’s second medal at the Games, following boxer, Samuel Takyi’s bronze in the featherweight division.
Updated to indicate that both tweets have since been deleted. Screenshot of original tweet added. (06/08/2021 05:40GMT)