Ignisious Gaisah (born July 20, 1983) is a

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

ian-born athlete competing in the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

for the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Career

Gaisah moved to the Netherlands in 2001 and currently lives and trains in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

. He competes for P.A.C. Rotterdam. In 2005 jumped a personal best 8.34 metres to win the silver medal at the World Championships in Helsinki, finishing behind

Dwight Phillips Dwight Phillips (born October 1, 1977) is an American former track and field, athlete and a four-time IAAF World Championships in Athletics, world champion in the long jump. He was the 2004 Summer Olympics, 2004 Olympic champion in the event. Hi ...

. On February 2, 2006, in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

he leaped to an African indoor record that also won him the gold medal in this event by jumping 8.36 metres. He continued his good form to win the

2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 11th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) was held in Moscow from March 10 to March 12, 2006 in the Olimpiyski Sport arena. The announcement by the IA ...

a month later with a jump of 8.30 metres, followed quickly by the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

gold medal with a jump of 8.20 metres. At the

2006 African Championships in Athletics The 15th African Championships in Athletics were held in Mauritius between August 9 and August 13, 2006. The event was staged at Stade Germain Comarmond in Bambous, Rivière Noire District. This was the second time when the African Championships ...

Gaisah won the gold medal with an 8.51 m jump, beating

Cheikh Touré Cheikh Tidiane Touré (born January 25, 1970) is a Senegal-born French athlete who specialised in the long jump. He retired after the 2003 season. His best international performance came in the 1997 World Championships, where he finished 7th. H ...

's African record of 8.46 metres from 1997, but as the tail wind was too strong (+3.7 m/s) the result could not become a new record. Since July 2013 Gaisah officially competes for the Netherlands after gaining his Dutch passport.

Competition record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gaisah, Ignisious 1983 births Living people Ghanaian male long jumpers Dutch male long jumpers Ghanaian emigrants to the Netherlands Olympic athletes of Ghana Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Ghana Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Ghana Athletes from Rotterdam World Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Championships athletes for the Netherlands World Athletics Championships athletes for Ghana European Athletics Championships medalists Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics African Games gold medalists for Ghana African Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2003 All-Africa Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2007 All-Africa Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2011 All-Africa Games World Athletics Indoor Championships winners IAAF Continental Cup winners People from Kumasi Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games