Why Abeku Jackson won the 100m butterfly re-swim but didn’t win gold
Ghana’s Abeiku Jackson won bronze in the men’s 100m butterfly final on Tuesday at the ongoing African Games.
The 23-year-old finished with a time of 53.80 seconds, behind Egypt’s Nassr Abdalla and South Africa’s Jarden Easton.
The race was initially held on Monday night, but an issue with the starter meant it had to be redone on Tuesday, with two swimmers failing to hear the starting bell due to noise in the arena.
With officials unable to stop the race, resulting in the swimmers finishing it, the re-swim thus became optional.
Swimmers were given the option of keeping their times from the original race or taking part in the re-swim, and Jackson chose the latter.
Nassr Abdalla and Jarden Easton opted not to take part in the re-swim, and keep their respective times from the original race.
Unfortunately for Jackson, despite winning the re-swim in their absence, his time was still bettered by the two, meaning he settled for bronze.
It is his second medal of the games, adding to the silver he won in the 50m butterfly, and Ghana’s fifth.