IAAF Championship: Gaisah lands silver for Holland

Ignatius Gaisah, who has produced some stellar performances for Ghana in the long jump in the past, this time leapt into the Dutch record books when he won the silver medal in the long jump at the IAAF World Athletics Championships that ended in Moscow on Sunday.

Gaisah, 30, who became eligible to represent Holland only in June this year, leapt 8.29 metres in the fourth round of the competition, his best jump since 2006 when, representing Ghana then, he won gold medals at the IAAF World Indoor Championships, African Championships and Commonwealth Games.

His performance in Moscow was all the more remarkable given that he had just squeezed into the final in 12th and last place. The medal was Holland’s first at the World championships since 2007.

When Gaisah, who was born in Ashanti Region, visited a friend in Holland in 2002 he took the opportunity to train at a local club in Rotterdam.

“He just came to the track in Rotterdam one night, saying he was a good jumper,” Monique Berrevoets, Gaisah’s future coach, told IAAF News. “At first I thought: ‘Here’s another one who thinks he is a good jumper.’ But after watching him, I realised that he was indeed good.”

After Gaisah won the silver medal in the long jump at the World Championships in Helsinki in 2006, he was granted an Olympic scholarship to help fund his training. This also granted him a residence permit that allowed him to stay longer in Holland.

Gaisah told IAAF News that he was “not as powerful as the other long jumpers but being able to compensate with sprinting abilities”.

Berrevoets is in charge of coaching Gaisah in speed and power, while Eric van der Steenhoven, another Dutch coach, takes care of the technical aspects of the jump from the take-off phase.

Source: GNA