Benjamin Azamati-Kwaku (born 14 January 1998) is a Ghanaian sprinter, who currently competes for ASICS Global. He made history by breaking a 22-year national record held by Leo Myles Mills on 26 March 2021 in Texas by clocking 9.97 seconds to qualify him for the Tokyo Summer Olympics. Mustafa Ussif, the Sports Minister and Dr Bella Bello Bitugu, the Director of the University of Ghana Sports Directorate, congratulated Benjamin Azamati on the national feat.

Early life and education

Azamati was born on 14 January 1998 to John and Faustina Azamati in

Akim Oda Akim Oda, a town in Ghana's Eastern Region, serving as the administrative and traditional center of the Birim Central Municipal District and Akyem Kotoku, respectively. The town has 60,604 residents as of 2013. Geography and climate Akim Oda ...

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

. His preferred sport growing up was

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, but transitioned to

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

while attending

Presbyterian Boys' Senior High School Presbyterian Boys' Secondary School (PRESEC, Legon) is a secondary boarding school for boys. It is located in Legon, Accra, Ghana. It was founded in 1938, under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Presbyterian Church of the Gold C ...

Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...

where his running talent was discovered by his PE masters (Nathaniel Botchway, Gideon Dukplah and Kofi Dadzie).

Occupation and honors

As a 21-year old he emerged as an

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

hopeful for Ghana in the sprints after running 100 metres in 10.02 seconds HT at the 2019 Ghana's Fastest Human competition. He won a gold medal in the 4x100m relay at the

2019 African Games The 12th African Games (), also known as Rabat 2019 (), were held from 19 to 31 August 2019 in Rabat, Morocco. This was the first time that the African Games were hosted by Morocco following the country's readmission to the African Union in Janua ...

in Rabat. He won the GUSA 100m on two occasions. In 2021, he improved the 100m national record with 9.97 and improved his 200m personal best to 20.13. On 25 March 2022, Azamati improved his own 100m national record to an early world lead of 9.90 seconds in Texas, USA, making him the joint 4th fastest collegiate of all-time with

Trayvon Bromell Trayvon Jaquez Bromell (born July 10, 1995) is an American professional track and field athlete specializing in sprinting events. He won bronze medals in the 100 meters at the 2015 and 2022 World Championships. Bromell was the 2016 World indo ...

. This mark also placed him within the top 50 all-time 100m sprint performances with only 6 Africans running faster in the continent at the time.

Personal bests

Outdoor

* 100 metres - 9.90 (+2.0 m/s, Texas 2022) * 200 metres - 20.13 (+1.1 m/s, Texas 2021)

Indoor

* 60 metres - 6.54 ( Albuquerque 2022) * 200 metres - 20.57 (Texas 2022)

Achievements

International championships

References

External links

* 1998 births Living people Ghanaian male sprinters Place of birth missing (living people) Athletes (track and field) at the 2019 African Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2023 African Games African Games gold medalists for Ghana African Games gold medalists in athletics (track and field) African Games silver medalists for Ghana African Games silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Competitors at the 2019 Summer Universiade Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Ghana Presbyterian Boys' Senior High School alumni Athletes (track and field) at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games athletes for Ghana Ghanaian sportspeople Sportspeople from Eastern Region (Ghana) Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Olympics 21st-century Ghanaian sportsmen {{Ghana-athletics-bio-stub