Blessing Afrifah

Blessing Akwasi Afrifah (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 will represent Israel at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris in the men's 200 metres at the Stade de France between 5 and 8 August 2024.

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

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. He speaks fluent Hebrew and English. He is 5 ft 11 in (180 cm), and weighs 165 pounds (75 kg).

Early years; Israeli championships
At the age of 14, Afrifah began working with national coach Igor Balon. His club is Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Afrifah won the Israeli Championship in the 100m in 2020-24, with his best time being a 10.23 in 2023, and won the Israeli Championship in the 200m in 2020-24, with his best time being a 20.63 in 2023 in Jerusalem.

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. Afrifah, who then draped the Israeli flag across his body, was the first Israeli to run the 200 metres race in under 20 seconds. 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.

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.

His personal best at the 100m is 10.20 in 2023 and 2024, and at the 200 m is 19.95 in 2022. His highest European ranking in the 200m was 4th.

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."

2024 Paris Olympics
Afrifah will represent Israel at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris in the men's 200 metres at the Stade de France between 5 and 8 August 2024.

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. At the age of 16, he was granted Israeli citizenship after he appealed to Israel's Minister Aryeh Deri.

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 and don’t know any other option. 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 stated: "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."

As an Israeli citizen conscripted by law upon reaching 18 years of age, Afrifah was drafted to the Israel Defense Forces in 2022 and served at an army base in Rehovot in a more convenient and shorter service that is limited to elite sportspeople and artists.

Career statistics
Figures from World Athletics profile.