On this day 22 August 2019 (Exactly a year ago today) Former Ghana, Nottingham Forest and QPR striker Junior Agogo died at the age of 40.
Agogo began his footballing career at Sheffield Wednesday and spent time on loan at Oldham, Chester, Chesterfield and Lincoln before a stint in America with the Chicago Fire, Colorado Rapids and San Jose Earthquakes.
He returned to English football with QPR in 2002 and quickly joined Barnet, where he impressed to earn a move to Bristol Rovers.
Agogo enjoyed a prolific three-year stint with the West Country club before spending two years at Nottingham Forest.
A move to Egyptian side Zamalek SC followed in 2008, while he also represented Cypriot outfit Apollon Limassol and Scottish side Hibernian before retiring in 2012.
Accra-born Agogo also earned 27 senior international caps for Ghana, scoring 12 times and helping the team to a third-place finish on home soil at the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations.
He was a standout player for Ghana at the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations on home soil where he scored three goals in six outings as the Black Stars .
His notable contribution during the continental competition was his late match-winning effort that gave Ghana a 2-1 win over arch-rivals Nigeria.
He suffered a stroke in 2015 that left him with speech difficulties.
Elsewhere;
On this day 22 August 2004 (Exactly 16 years ago today) American sprinter Justin Gatlin won the coveted Olympic 100m gold medal in Athens in 9.85 ahead of Francis Obikwelu of Portugal and American Maurice Greene.
The final was the fastest and most disputed in Olympic history, with six runners covering the distance in 10.00 seconds or less (four of them under the 9.90 mark), and the gold and bronze medalist athletes separated by 0.02 seconds.
In the final, the slowest to react was Justin Gatlin, still with the most powerful first steps, Gatlin led from the gun, with Kim Collins, the next slowest to react, also getting a typically fast start (typically in lane 1).
A step behind, back from injuries, defending champion Maurice Greene, was fastest to react but running sideways in quicksand. He was joined by Francis Obikwelu and Shawn Crawford, who had a slight edge on the other competitors in the center of the track.
Collins faded as Obikwelu, Crawford and Greene gained. Feeling his lead disappearing rapidly, Gatlin leaned early still maintaining the lead across the line.
The tall Obikwelu perfectly timed his dip to clearly grab silver. Crawford’s finish occurred two meters too late giving
another medal with the same time as his win four years earlier.
On this day 22 August 2008 (Exactly 12 years ago today) The Jamaican team led by Usain Bolt smashed the world 4 x 100m relay record in the final at the Beijing Olympics; disqualified in 2017 as Nesta Carter tests positive for prohibited substance.
On this day 22 August 2008 (Exactly 12 years ago today) Ethiopian distance runner Tirunesh Dibaba wrapped up the women’s 5,000/10,000m double at the Beijing Olympics when she won gold in the 5000m in an Olympic record 15:41.40
On this day 22 August 2008 (Exactly 12 years ago today) Russia won the women’s 4 × 100 m relay ahead of Belgium and Nigeria at the Beijing Olympics; disqualified in 2016 when reanalysis of Yulia Chermoshanskaya’s samples result in positive test for prohibited substances.
By: George ‘Alan Green’ Mahamah
