An Interview with GUBA Ambassador, Jeanette Kwakye, an outstanding athlete with a collection of medals and accolades that showcases her accomplishments, has earned her rise to Olympic stardom through hard work and dedication. As a successful British athlete, Jeanette endures the intense mental and physical training required to be at the top.
She remains determined to exceed her personal best once again despite missing out in the qualifying stages for the London Olympic Games. Amongst her many achievements, Jeanette is also the Ambassador for the Ghana UK Based Achievements (GUBA) Awards: an organization that showcases and celebrates achievements within the British Ghanaian community. Jeanette Kwakye speaks to GUBA about the London Olympics and her take on the various teams.
We the GUBA team are very sad to see our honourable Ambassador miss out in the Olympic Games through injury, how did you take the whole experience?
It has been very tough to deal with however; the occurrence of injuries around qualification time is something that happens frequently in my sport so I had to handle it.
It was quite a massive blow giving that it is a home game, unfortunately it was not meant to be. I will be working around the games nonetheless, doing a number of things with some broadcasters so I will be involved in the game to some capacity.
What are your next plans after the London Olympics?
I will be focusing on getting better and hopefully getting back to the position where I can challenge the world‘s best again. As an athlete we work in a way whereby if we get knocked down we try our best to get back up, so I will be getting back to training to help me get there. I will also be exploring other options in and out of my sport and hopefully some good opportunities may come about.
Do you think Team GB are ready to perform better than they did at the last Olympics?
Absolutely, and I think it is going to be a fantastic game. I believe there will be more medals and more Olympic champions. Also, because the games are on our doorstep, we have the advantage of the crowd and that alone is enough to push any athlete to perform to their best. I am really looking forward to see how Team GB performs.
What teams will you be supporting… Ghana or Britain and what do you think about the Ghanaian contingents?
I will be supporting both teams equally. I am of Ghanaian heritage and also a British born so I have allegiance to both teams and will definitely be supporting both. The Ghanaian contingent is quite small in comparison to other countries but I do believe that it’s a strong team in some events and I hope that they enjoy the event and perform at their best.
As the ambassador for the GUBA awards, what are your expectations for the GUBA 2012 Awards?
I’m expecting the GUBA 2012 awards to be bigger and better. I was there right at the start and have witnessed the growth of GUBA from an idea to something that hangs off the peaks of Ghanaian festivities. It is truly something to be proud of and I’m expecting it to be a big and vast show this year and I simply can’t wait.
Team GUBA wishes our Ambassador Jeanette Kwakye all the best in the coming years and can’t wait to see her back to her personal best.
Interview by Claudia Andrews
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