Charles Moses

At first glance, the athletics career of Ghanian sprinter Charles Moses seemed fairly unremarkable until he confessed to fabricating some of his early results. Born in Ghana in 1954, Moses moved to the United States in the late 1970s where he attended Iowa State University. By 1980 he had had enrolled at the Rochester Community and Technical College in Minnesota, running for their track team. Specialising in the 400 metres he won the state junior college championships and qualified for the NJCAA championships.

In August of that year Moses gave an interview with the Post-Bulletin newspaper in Rochester, Minnesota where he claimed that he had ran in the 400 metres at the 1980 Moskva Olympics. He stated that he had represented Ghana due to the US boycott, with him reaching to the semi-finals of the event. One month later he told the newspaper that he had competed under the name of Dele Udo to explain why his name was not on the official results. One day later, however, he was forced to admit that he had made up the story and that he had not competed at the 1980 Olympics at all. In addition to the US boycotting the Moskva Games, Ghana were also one of the 60-plus nations that joined the boycott. The athlete Dele Udo did indeed reach the semi-finals of the 400 metres in Moskva, but he competed for Nigeria. Tragically, Udo was shot and killed less than a year later at a police checkpoint in Lagos.

Despite the false story of competing in Moskva, followed by his swift retraction, Moses did compete at the Olympics four years later when he ran in the 400 metres at the Los Angeles Games. His Olympic appearance was ultimately a short one after finishing last in his opening heat to be eliminated. After the Olympics he continued to live and work in the United States, starting his own business in Richland, Washington.

Personal Best: 400 – 45.71u (1984).