One of the brightest young stars on the Canadian team is high jumper Kwaku Boateng. He was a former member of the Ghana national team highlighted by an appearance at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria. After the Games, he applied for refugee status and remained in Canada with five other Ghanaian athletes, including Canadian sprinter Philomena Mensah.

 At last summer's Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Boateng and his teammate Mark Boswell shared the gold after Cuba's Javier Sotomayor tested positive for cocaine. Then a few weeks later Boateng placed a stunning sixth at the world championships. Just before the trials he finished tied for first at the unofficial world championship of high jumping in Eberstadt, Germany with a personal best 2.34 leap. In total this season he was won 10 international medals in 13 meets including four gold.

2000 Games
Sept. 24: Men's high jump: Kwaku Boateng, Montreal, wound up 12th.
Sept. 22: Men's high jump: Kwaku Boateng, Montreal, finished in tie for fourth in another group, advanced to final.

Photos
Canadian Kwaku Boateng relaxes
Boateng and Boswell together


2000 Games Track & Field Coverage