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Blessing Afrifah
	Afrifah in 2022
Personal information
Native name	בלסינג אקווסי אפריפה
Full name	Blessing Akwasi Afrifah
Born	26 October 2003 (age 21); Tel Aviv, Israel
Height	5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight	165 lb (75 kg)
Sport
Country	Israel
Sport	Athletics
Event	Sprints
Club	Maccabi Tel Aviv
Achievements and titles
Personal bests	60 m: 6.88 (Tel Aviv 2021); 100 m: 10.20 =NR (Tel Aviv 2023); 150 m: 15.57 (Tel Aviv 2023); 200 m: 19.96 AU20R NR NU20R (Cali 2022); 300 m: 33.26 (Tel Aviv 2022); Indoors; 60 m: 6.92i (Belgrade 2022); 200 m: 20.95i NR (Metz 2023);
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing Israel
World U20 Championships
European U23 Championships
	Updated on 16 July 2023

Blessing Akwasi Afrifah (Hebrew: בלסינג אקווסי אפריפה, born 26 October 2003) is an Israeli track and field athlete who specializes in the sprints. He was the 200 metres champion at both the 2022 World Athletics U20 Championships, and at the 2023 European Athletics U23 Championships. Afrifah represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the men's 200 metres, and finished 16th.

Early life

Afrifah was born and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel, and later moved with his family to Ramat Gan, Israel.^[3] His parents are of Akan ethnicity, from Kumasi, Ghana, and moved to Israel a decade before he was born.^[2]^[1]^[4]^[5]^[6] His father and his mother initially came to Israel separately as tourists in the mid-1990s.^[3] They remained -- with his father working in the consular division of Ghana’s embassy, and his mother working as a cleaning lady.^[5]^[3] Grateful to Israel they pledged that they would have a son named Blessing and a daughter named Mercy.^[3] His younger sister Mercy is also a sprinter.^[3]

As a child and teenager, Afrifah studied at Ohel Shem high school in Ramat Gan, Israel. He briefly played soccer, then turned to athletics at the age of 11.^[7] He speaks fluent Hebrew and English.^[3] He is 5 ft 11 in (180 cm), and weighs 165 pounds (75 kg).^[3]

Running career

Early years; Israeli championships

At the age of 14, Afrifah began working with national coach Igor Balon.^[6] Afrifah's club is Maccabi Tel Aviv.^[7]

Afrifah won the Israeli Championship in the 100m in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, with his best time being a 10.23 in 2023. He won the Israeli Championship in the 200m in 2020-24, with his best time being a 20.63 in 2023 in Jerusalem.^[3]

2022; World U20 Champion

At the 2022 World Athletics U20 Championships in Cali, Colombia, at 18 years of age Afrifah won the 200 m in a photo finish with a championship record time of 19.954, 0.006 seconds ahead of Botswanan Letsile Tebogo.^[8]^[9] Afrifah, who then draped the Israeli flag across his body, was the first Israeli to run the 200 metres race in under 20 seconds.^[2]^[10] In recorded competitions, only two humans under age 20 had run a faster 200 meters, one being Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, who later won the event three times in the Olympics and four times in the world championships.^[2]

2023-present; European U23 Champion

Next year, at the 2023 European Athletics U23 Championships in Espoo, Finland, Afrifah won the 200 m with a time of 20.67, just 0.01 second ahead of Dutch Raphael Bouju.^[11]

His personal best at the 100m is 10.20 in 2023 and 2024, and at the 200 m is 19.96 in 2022.^[3] His highest European ranking in the 200m was 4th.^[12]

Afrifah said: "I feel I’m standing for a community. Israel is a country that [some] countries hate, so it’s an honor to represent them. I want to prove [anti-Israel slander] is not true and Israel is different, and I’m proving it through sports."^[2]

2024 Paris Olympics

Afrifah represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the men's 200 metres at the Stade de France.^[13]^[14] He attended a ceremony at the Paris Olympics that was held to remember the 11 Israeli Olympicans killed in the Munich Massacre at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games.^[15] At 20 years of age, he ran a 20.78 and came in 5th in his first round qualification heat, and he ran a 20.88 in the last chance repechage round, finishing 16th and not making it to the semifinals.^[16]^[17]

Personal life

In 2010, Afrifah was granted permanent residence status, along with his sister and parents, following a government decision to not deport children of foreign workers born in Israel.^[6] At the age of 16, he was granted Israeli citizenship after he appealed to Israel's Minister of the Interior Aryeh Deri.^[18]^[6]

When asked about his feelings upon receiving his Israeli identity document, Afrifah replied: "I’m an Israeli. I was born here, my friends are here.... I’m no different from my friends, which are residents of Israel. I want to represent Israel and win medals." He was given full citizenship in 2020, and said: "I can’t describe how excited I am; I couldn’t even eat due to my excitement. I have more confidence and motivation to win achievements for Israel."^[19]

As an Israeli citizen and thus conscripted by law upon reaching 18 years of age, Afrifah served in the Israel Defense Forces beginning in 2022. He served on an army base in Rehovot, in a program limited to elite sportspeople that provides a more flexible service.^[19]^[3]

Career statistics

Figures from World Athletics profile.^[3]

Personal bests

Surface	Distance	Time (s)	W (m/s)	Date	Location	Notes
Outdoor	60 metres	6.88	+0.7	21 January 2021	Tel Aviv, Israel
	100 metres	10.20	+1.7	21 May 2023	Tel Aviv, Israel	=NR
	150 metres	15.57	+0.6	27 April 2023	Tel Aviv, Israel
	200 metres	19.96	−1.0	4 August 2022	Cali, Colombia	AU20R NR NU20R
	300 metres	33.26		5 February 2022	Tel Aviv, Israel
	4 × 100 metres relay	39.66	—	21 June 2023	Chorzów, Poland
Indoor	60 metres	6.92	—	12 February 2022	Belgrade, Serbia
Indoor	200 metres	20.95	—	11 February 2023	Metz, France	NR

International championships

Representing Israel
Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Time	Wind (m/s)	Notes
2021	Balkan Championships	Smederevo, Serbia	5th (F)	200 metres	21.28	+0.7
	Balkan Championships	Smederevo, Serbia	3rd	4 x 100 metres relay	40.12	—	SB
	European U20 Championships	Tallinn, Estonia	4th (F)	200 metres	21.01	+0.7
	European U20 Championships	Tallinn, Estonia	7th (F)	4 x 100 metres relay	41.18	—
	World U20 Championships	Nairobi, Kenya	7th (F)	200 metres	21.03	+0.5
2022	Balkan U20 Indoor Championships	Belgrade, Serbia	7th (F)	60 metres	6.92i	—	PB
	Balkan Championships	Craiova, Romania	1st	200 metres	20.98	−1.9
	Balkan Championships	Craiova, Romania	5th (F)	4 x 100 metres relay	40.11	—
	World U20 Championships	Cali, Colombia	1st	200 metres	19.96 [.954]	−1.0	AU20R CR NR NU20R PB
	European Championships	Munich, Germany	7th (F)	200 metres	20.69	−0.3
2023	European Team Championships	Chorzów, Poland	DQ	100 metres	—	—	—
	European Team Championships	Chorzów, Poland	2nd	4 x 100 metres relay	39.66	—	PB
	European U23 Championships	Espoo, Finland	1st	200 metres	20.67	−1.1
	World Championships	Budapest, Hungary	33rd (h)	200 m	20.73	−1.4
2024	European Championships	Rome, Italy	7th	200 m	20.97	+0.8
2024	Olympic Games	Paris, France	16th (rep)	200 m	20.88	0.0

100m progression

Year	Time	Location	Date
2019	10.85^[20]	Tel Aviv, Israel
2020	10.49	Tel Aviv, Israel	27 July
2021
2022
2023
2024

200m progression

Year	Time	Location	Date	Notes
2019	21.67	Tel Aviv, Israel	25 July
2020	21.17	Tel Aviv, Israel	28 July
2021	20.94	Tallinn, Estonia	16 July
2022	19.96	Cali, Colombia	4 August	AU20R CR NR NU20R
2023	20.42	La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland	2 July
2024	20.46	Rome, Italy	9 June

References

^ ^a ^b "בלסינג אקווסי אפריפה". Israeli Athletic Association. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Hillel Kuttler (5 December 2022). "Blessing Afrifa; Israel’s Usain Bolt takes aim at the 2024 Olympics in Paris," Tablet.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k "Blessing Akwasi AFRIFAH | Profile". World Athletics.
^ "Blessing Akwasi AFRIFAH | Athlete profile". European Athletic Association. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
^ ^a ^b Rakovsky, Ido (28 July 2022). "הוא שובר שוב ושוב את שיאי ישראל, אך עדיין חולם על אזרחות למשפחתו" [He repeatedly breaks Israel's records, but still dreams of citizenship for his family]. Haaretz (in Hebrew). Retrieved 16 July 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Joshua Halickman (12 August 2022). "Afrifah a true blessing for Israeli sprinting; Israeli sprinter Bessing Afrifah captured the gold medal in the 200-meter dash at the Under-20 World Athletic Championships". The Jerusalem Post.
^ ^a ^b Horovitz, Michael (5 August 2022). "Israel's Blessing Afrifah wins gold in 200m dash at under-20 world championship". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
^ "Israel's Blessing Afrifah wins gold in the 200-meter dash at the U-20 world championships". Aurora. 5 August 2022.
^ Mulvenney, Nick (5 August 2022). "Israeli Afrifa stuns Tebogo to win 200m at world juniors". Reuters. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
^ "Israeli runner Blessing Afrifah wins gold at World U20 Championships; The 18-year-old is the first Israeli in history to finish the race in under 20 seconds". I24NEWS. 5 August 2022. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
^ "Alasaari adds to Finland's title haul with surprise pole vault victory in Espoo 2023". European Athletic Association. 16 July 2023. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
^ "Blessing Akwasi AFRIFAH," European Athletics.
^ "Israel's delegation to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games". Wingate Institute (in Hebrew). 25 June 2024. Archived from the original on 26 June 2024. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
^ "Road to Paris 24". World Athletics.
^ "Israeli athletes receive threats in Paris as tensions simmer over Gaza," AP.
^ Joshua Halickman (August 7, 2024). "Afrifah comes up just short of 200m semis," The Jerusalem Post.
^ "Blessing Afrifah finished ..", X, Team Israel.
^ Porat, Avinoam (12 February 2020). "Teenage runner faces hurdle to Israeli citizenship". Ynet. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
^ ^a ^b Porat, Avinoam (30 August 2022). "Israeli gold medalist sprinter gets drafted to IDF". Ynet. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
^ Afrifah ran a 10.79 seconds in a 100 metre dash in Rishon LeZion in 2019, but the result was disqualified and not counted.

External links

[IAA-1] "בלסינג אקווסי אפריפה". Israeli Athletic Association. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

[Tab-2] Hillel Kuttler (5 December 2022). "Blessing Afrifa; Israel’s Usain Bolt takes aim at the 2024 Olympics in Paris," Tablet.

[world-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k "Blessing Akwasi AFRIFAH | Profile". World Athletics.

[4] "Blessing Akwasi AFRIFAH | Athlete profile". European Athletic Association. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

[Haaretz-5] Rakovsky, Ido (28 July 2022). "הוא שובר שוב ושוב את שיאי ישראל, אך עדיין חולם על אזרחות למשפחתו" [He repeatedly breaks Israel's records, but still dreams of citizenship for his family]. Haaretz (in Hebrew). Retrieved 16 July 2023.

[true-6] Joshua Halickman (12 August 2022). "Afrifah a true blessing for Israeli sprinting; Israeli sprinter Bessing Afrifah captured the gold medal in the 200-meter dash at the Under-20 World Athletic Championships". The Jerusalem Post.

[wins-7] Horovitz, Michael (5 August 2022). "Israel's Blessing Afrifah wins gold in 200m dash at under-20 world championship". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 5 August 2022.

[8] "Israel's Blessing Afrifah wins gold in the 200-meter dash at the U-20 world championships". Aurora. 5 August 2022.

[9] Mulvenney, Nick (5 August 2022). "Israeli Afrifa stuns Tebogo to win 200m at world juniors". Reuters. Retrieved 5 August 2022.

[10] "Israeli runner Blessing Afrifah wins gold at World U20 Championships; The 18-year-old is the first Israeli in history to finish the race in under 20 seconds". I24NEWS. 5 August 2022. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

[11] "Alasaari adds to Finland's title haul with surprise pole vault victory in Espoo 2023". European Athletic Association. 16 July 2023. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

[12] "Blessing Akwasi AFRIFAH," European Athletics.

[Wingate-13] "Israel's delegation to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games". Wingate Institute (in Hebrew). 25 June 2024. Archived from the original on 26 June 2024. Retrieved 26 June 2024.

[14] "Road to Paris 24". World Athletics.

[15] "Israeli athletes receive threats in Paris as tensions simmer over Gaza," AP.

[16] Joshua Halickman (August 7, 2024). "Afrifah comes up just short of 200m semis," The Jerusalem Post.

[17] "Blessing Afrifah finished ..", X, Team Israel.

[18] Porat, Avinoam (12 February 2020). "Teenage runner faces hurdle to Israeli citizenship". Ynet. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

[Ynet22-19] Porat, Avinoam (30 August 2022). "Israeli gold medalist sprinter gets drafted to IDF". Ynet. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

[20] Afrifah ran a 10.79 seconds in a 100 metre dash in Rishon LeZion in 2019, but the result was disqualified and not counted.

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PROFILPELAJAR.COM

Blessing Afrifah

Early life

Running career

Early years; Israeli championships

2022; World U20 Champion

2023-present; European U23 Champion

2024 Paris Olympics

Personal life

Career statistics

Personal bests

International championships

100m progression

200m progression

See also

References

External links

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