Blessing Akwasi Afrifah: The Ghanaian who survived deportation to become Israeli sprinter

He went through a trajectory of surviving deportation, appealing to the government for citizenship, and serving in the army before becoming an Israeli athlete.

Afrifah is set to compete in the 200m repechage at the 2024 Olympic Games for a semi-final berth in his first-ever Olympic Games appearance.

He finished 6th in Heat 6 with a time of 20.78, which guaranteed him a place in the repechage. He will compete in Heat 3 of the repechage at Stade de France on Tuesday, August 6, 2024.

Afrifah, who currently represents the country’s desire to win a 200-meter medal, was made to battle for citizenship as he could not earn it at birth.

In an interview with Israeli outlet Haaretz in 2022, he complained about being treated as a foreigner despite being born and bred in Israel.

“People here in Israel made me ‘not an Israeli’ because my parents came from somewhere else. The minute you have citizenship, then you are considered Israeli, but if you don’t have it, you are not part of the ‘Israeliness’,” he said.

Afrifah survived deportation in 2010 after the Israeli government amended their rules and decided not to deport children of foreign workers. Together with his family, they were granted a permanent resident permit.

He would go on to secure citizenship in 2019 and full citizenship in 2020 after appealing to then-Israeli minister Aryeh Makhlouf Deri, expressing his desire to represent the country.

“I’m an Israeli. I was born here, my friends are here and I don’t know any other option. I’m no different from my friends, who are residents of Israel. I want to represent Israel and win medals,” he said after getting his citizenship.

Upon becoming a citizen, he served in the Israel Defense Forces in 2022 at age 18 as required by the law for a short period in conditions limited to athletes and sports persons.

The 20-year-old was born and bred in Tel Aviv to a Ghanaian immigrant who moved to Israel a decade before the birth of Afrifah.

Both his parents are Akans, with reports indicating that they are from Kumasi. His father, upon arrival in Israel in the mid-1990s, worked at Ghana’s embassy while his mother worked as a cleaner.

Afrifah started as a football player before transitioning to becoming a sprinter at age 11, specializing in the 200m.

He holds the record as the first-ever Israeli to win a gold medal at the U-23 European Championship in 2023, announcing himself as a huge 200m prospect ahead of the Olympic Games in Paris.

He holds the national record for 200m with a time of 20.95. His sister, Mercy Afrifah, is also a sprinter.

Mercy, 18, competes in the 100m and 200m and sits in the 8411th position on the World Athletics Women’s overall ranking.