Vida Anim ran a spectacular anchor leg to help Ghana’s women’s 4x100 metres quartet win the gold medal in the finals of the 9th All Africa Games in Algiers, Algeria, beating Nigeria in a photo finish at the tape.
Anim who could only win a bronze in the 10 metres flat race beat her Nigerian opponent by 0.01 second.
Ghana returned a time of 43.84 seconds, while the Nigerians clocked 43.85 seconds to pip Cote d'Ivoire which finished in third position with a time of 44.48.
There was a bit of drama at the end when the Nigerians thought they had won after the electronic score board repeatedly showed the slow motion of the finish.
They jumped and punched the air but went back into their shells after it was confirmed that Vida had breast the tape ahead of the girl in green and white.
Indeed, with about 30 metres to the finishing line, the Nigerian appeared to be in the lead, but Anim produced a blistering finish to breast the tape just in time to claim the gold.
Anim received the baton from Esther Danquah who ran the third leg and had done well enough to keep a close distance from the powerful Nigerian.
Mariama Salifu started the race for Ghana in lane six and proved quite a handful for her challengers as she sprang out of the blocks and raced past two competitors in front of her before handing over the baton to Gifty Addy.
Gifty raced well to get into third place before handing the stick over to Esther at the bend.
And when the queen of Ghana's tracks, Anim accelerated past her Nigerian opponent and into the lead, the celebrations began from the stands as the Supporters Group struck their bands with glee and sang copiously in jubilation.
Ghana failed to make it a double in the 4x100 metres relay when the male team messed up with baton changing after racing into contention before the third leg.
In the end, Ghana could only pick a fifth position to end their reign as defending champions in the event.
