Blessing Akwasi Afrifah ( he, בלסינג אקווסי אפריפה, born 26 October 2003) is an Israeli

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

athlete who specializes in the

sprints Sprint may refer to: Aerospace *Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design *Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile Automotive and motorcycle *Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989 *Chevrolet Sprint, ...

. He is the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

gold medallist at the

World Athletics U20 Championships The World Athletics U20 Championships is a biennial world championships for the sport of athletics organised by the World Athletics, contested by athletes in the under-20 athletics age category (19 years old or younger on 31 December in the ye ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeyp ...

Biography

Blessing Afrifah was born and raised in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

to parents from

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina ...

. His father came to Israel as an employee of the Ghanaian consulate. He studied at

Ohel Shem Ohel Shem ( he, אהל-שם) is an Israeli secular high school located in the city of Ramat Gan. It has about 1,550 students studying in 45 classes, from ninth to twelfth grade, and about 160 teachers and 40 staff. The campus contains, in additi ...

high school in

Ramat Gan Ramat Gan ( he, רָמַת גַּן or , ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located east of the municipality of Tel Aviv and part of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. It is home to one of the world's major diamond exchanges, and man ...

. He briefly played soccer, then turned 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), competiti ...

at the age of 11. At the age of 14 he began working with national coach Igor Balon. In 2010, he was granted permanent residence status following a government decision not to deport children of foreign workers born in Israel. At the age of 16 he appealed to Israel's Minister

Aryeh Deri Aryeh Makhlouf Deri (, ), also Arie Deri, Arye Deri, or Arieh Deri (born 17 February 1959), is an Israeli politician. He is one of the founders of the Shas political party, and has served as Israel's Minister of the Interior, Minister of the D ...

for Israeli citizenship. Afrifah is the first Israeli to run the 200 meter race in under 20 seconds.Israeli runner Blessing Afrifah wins gold at World U20 Championships
/ref> At the

2022 World Athletics U20 Championships The 2022 World Athletics U20 Championships, also known colloquially by its former official title, the World Junior Championships, was an international athletics competition for athletes qualifying as juniors (born no earlier than 1 January 2003 ...

in Cali, Colombia, Afrifah won the 200 metre race in a photo finish with a championship record time of 19.954, just 0.006 seconds ahead of

Letsile Tebogo Letsile Tebogo (born 7 June 2003) is a Botswana sprinter. He won the gold medal in the 100 metres and a silver in the 200 metres at both the 2021 and 2022 World Athletics Under-20 Championships. In 2021, Tebogo became the first Botswana athlet ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Afrifah, Blessing 2003 births Living people Israeli male sprinters World Athletics U20 Championships winners 21st-century Israeli people Israeli people of African descent Sportspeople from Tel Aviv

Biography

See also

References

External links