African Paralympians Shine in London - 10 Gold Medals and Counting !

 

Yakubu Adesokan of Nigeria shows off his gold medal after setting a new world record during the Men's 48kg Powerlifting on Day 1 of the London 2012 Paralympic Games


The 2012 Paralympic Games are underway in London and only in its 5th day, African nations have already grabbed a combined 10 Gold medals, just 1 Gold medal shy of the total Gold medals won by all African countries at the Olympic Games 4 weeks ago. Quite impressive, I must say, given the limited resources and training facilities available to disabled athletes in most African nations.

A strong showing from the continent, there are a total of 43 nations and 308 athletes participating from the continent.  Nigeria leads the medal table with 4 Gold medals already and 4 Silver medals. South Africa is second with 2 Gold medals, 3 Silver medals and and 4 Bronze. Stay tuned for more news and wins by these African Heroes.


Yakubu Adesokan of Nigeria celebrates his Gold medal win

  

Yakubu Adesokan of Nigeria celebrates his Gold medal win

    

Jonathan Ntutu of South Africa (2nd from the right) wins Bronze in the mens 100m

 

Ivory Nwokorie (middle) wins Gold in the Women's 44kg Powerlifting



A Sports Day For War Veterans Becomes A Global Event - The Paralympic Games

An archery class at the Ministry of Pensions Spinal Centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in 1949. Photograph: Raymond Kleboe/Getty Images

If you have a loved one or know of someone with a physical disability, then you must be aware of the rehabilitative benefits of sports in the lives of these individuals. Far beyond its rehabilitative benefits, sports brings a sort of camaraderie,a competitive spirit and enhances an active lifestyle for individuals with disabilities. Just as Dr. Ludwig Guttman intended, sports has continued to play an important part in the lives of the disabled and is evident in the performance of today's paralympians from all over the world.

The history of athletic games for the disabled can be traced back to World War II, mainly from efforts by an English doctor named Ludwig Guttman. Known as the "Father of Sport For the Disabled", Dr. Guttman was a strong advocate for using sports therapy to enhance the quality of life of people who were injured or wounded during World War II.

Dr. Guttman organized the 1948 International Wheelchair Games to coincide with the 1948 London Olympics. His dream was of a worldwide sports competition for people with disabilities to be held every four years as “the equivalent of the Olympic Games.” Twelve years later, his dream became a reality.

The first Paralympic Games were held in Rome, Italy, in 1960 and involved 400 athletes from 23 countries. Originally, only wheelchair athletes were invited to compete. Since that time, the Paralympic Games have grown dramatically. The present-day Paralympic Games include five major classifications of athletes: persons with visual impairments, persons with physical disabilities, amputee athletes, people with cerebral palsy, people with spinal cord injuries and Les Autres - athletes with a physical disability that are not included in the categories mentioned above.

Just like the London 2012 theme message "Inspire a generation", Dr. Guttman inspired a generation of disabled athletes and the Paralympic Summer Games are now the second largest sporting event in the world today, the first largest being the Olympic Games.

The Paralympic Games are underway in London, from August 29 - September 9, 2012.

Gold was the Goal. Few African Nations Achieved it.

Medal Count of African Nations - London 2012 Olympics
	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	South Africa	3	2	1	6
2	Ethiopia	3	1	3	7
3	Kenya	2	4	5	11
4	Tunisia	1	1	1	3
5	Algeria	1	0	0	1
6	Uganda	1	0	0	1
7	Egypt	0	2	0	2
8	Botswana	0	1	0	1
9	Gabon	0	1	0	1
10	Morocco	0	0	1	1

 (Data: courtesy of www.London2012.com)

When the 2012 Olympic Games kicked off on July 27th, there were 204 countries, all with one goal. To take home a medal. Gold was the goal. Silver and Bronze medals were targets as well. But not winning any medal at all was not the hope of any nation. 53 African nations participated in the 2012 Olympics and as the games came to an end, there was rarely a medal of any kind for most of the African nations. Six countries won at least one gold medal and four countries won at least a silver or a bronze medal. 43 countries did not collect any medal.

There is much to be said about the poor performance of African countries at the Olympics, especially the 43 countries who did not make it to the medal podium at all. Is poverty, corruption and politics keeping Africa's elite athletes from stepping on the medal podium?

Nijel Amos Grabs Botswana's First Ever Olympic Medal

Amos celebrating Botswana's First Ever Medal

Botswana made its debut in the Olympic Games in 1980 in Moscow and  since then, the nation has never won any Olympic medal in their last 8 Olympic appearances. Although many had predicted Amantle Montsho (women's 400m) will be the first to lift an Olympic medal for Botswana, it was Nijel Amos who took care of business on Thursday as he powered through the finish line for a Silver medal win in the men's 800m. It was a complete African sweep in the men's 800m, with Lekuta Rudisha of Kenya grabbing Gold and Timothy Kitum of Kenya with the Bronze.

Well done Nijel! A true trend-setter for Botswana and other African nations who are still in search for their first Olympic medal.




A medal sweep in the 800m by Africans. Allez mes freres!

Fortune favors the brave!


(Photos:courtesy of indiatimes.com)

Ivory Coast and Nigeria Eyeing a Gold Medal Tonight

Murielle Ahoure of Ivory Coast has her eyes on Gold tonight in the 200m

Ivory Coast and Nigeria will have a chance to grab a gold medal tonight in the final of the women's 200m and the women's 400m hurdle respectively. Ivory Coast' Murielle Ahoure, who came in second in the 200m semi-final last night, is a favorite to grab the medal and be the first to put West Africa on the Medal table. Murielle was also the 2009 NCAA indoor champion in the 200m while running for the University of Miami. The 200m kicks off at 9pm tonight.

Muizat Odomusu clears a hurdle in the semifinal of the 400m hurdle

Muizat Ajoke Odumosu of Nigeria will also be eyeing her first Olympic gold medal tonight in the women's 400m hurdles. Muizat has won gold at the 2010 Commonwealth games in the 400m hurdles and it will be a dream come true if she can do the same at the Olympics. The 400m hurdle kicks off at 8.45pm

Bonne chance les filles!! In Gold we trust!

(Photos courtesy of reuters.com)

Algeria's Taoufik Makhloufi Survives a Scare and Scrambles For Gold!

Taoufik Makhloufi celebrates a gold medal win in the mens 1500m

One day after being disqualified from the Olympic Games due to what  many considered as a lack or sportsmanship or morale fiber, Algeria's Taoufik Makhloufi wins gold in the men's1500m then next day when the decision was overturned by the IAAF.

The International Association of Athletics Federations had initially taken a view of the Algerian's 800m performance, in which he jogged barely 150m before opting to drop out and wander back across the infield. "The referee considered he had not provided a bona fide effort and decided to exclude him from participation in all further events in the competition," said an IAAF statement. LOCOG, however, later released a statement confirming the disqualification had been revoked after a medical certificate was supplied by a local doctor suggesting he had a knee problem.

Maybe Makhloufi truly had a knee injury during the 800m or maybe he was saving his knees for the best race of his life!

(Photo: courtesy of france24.com)

After Week 1, Low Medal Count For African Countries at the Olympics

 

	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	South Africa	3	1	0	4
2	Ethiopia	2	0	2	4
3	Kenya	1	2	2	5
4	Egypt	0	2	0	2
5	Tunisia	0	1	1	2

 Medal count of all African Nations as of Monday August 6, 2012    

With only 6 more days left before the closing ceremony for the 2012 Games, the medal count of African nations has not been impressive. The report card for most African countries has been very poor so far, with only five nations winning a medal and only three countries with gold. Clearly, there's been very little scrambling for gold !

Ghana's Alberta Boatema Ampomah Struggles in the +75kg Weightlifting

Ghana's Ampomah falls short of a medal win

Ghana’s sole female weightlifter, 17 year old Alberta Boatema Ampomah failed in her scramble for gold as she finished 13 out of 14 weightlifters in the womens +75kg event. She lifted a total of 174kg after three attempts in both the snatch event and clean/jerk event. She lifted 73kg in the Snatch event and 101kg in the Clean and Jerk event making a total of 174kg in the competition ahead of Nigerian Weightlifter Maryam Usman who had failed to record a total. Awarded a wild card by the International Weightlifting Federation, Alberta Ampomah first competed on the international scene during the 2010 World Youth Olympics where she won a bronze medal.

Out of 8 Ghanaian athletes who qualified to the Olympics, 5 Ghanaians have already gone out while 2 withdrew due to injury.The last athlete left is 28 year old Vida Anim who will hit the 200 meters tracks on Monday at the Olympic park. Vida Anim, go make Ghana proud !

Senegal exits the Olympics but Moussa Konate gets an "A" Grade

Moussa Konate of Senegal is the leading scorer in the Olympics tournament

Saturday was a sad day for African football, as the last two men's teams lost in the quarterfinals, with Senegal going down 4-2 to Mexico in overtime and Egypt losing 3-0 to Japan. But even with Senegal's exit, Moussa Konate remains the talk of the Games, leading the tournament in scoring, with 5 individual goals. Let's just say the scramble for Moussa Konate has just begun, based on what the football world just saw from the young gun in the last few days. The Newcastle and West Ham football clubs are already in a race to sign Senegal's scoring sensation, Moussa Konate.  Great Job Moussa! But the African teams still have alot of homework to do if they want to prevail at the world's biggest stages.

(Photo: courtesy of Bleacherreport.com)

From Wimbledon, With Love.....

Serena Williams is truly a rare champion !

Disclaimer: This particular blog post is unrelated to neither an African athlete nor their scramble for gold. But please pardon the interruption. Anyone who knows me, probably knows my true love is tennis and today was truly a lovely tennis day and I could not resist to blog about it.

Being at Center Court at Wimbledon watching an Olympic gold medal match was simply, super! And even better, watching my fav tennis player, Serena Williams, fire aces and winners (I call them "frozen ropes" ) against Maria Sharapova felt like a blend of sugar mixed with sugar. Absolute sweetness!! 6-0; 6-1 was the score. Serena Williams won the Gold medal in the women's singles and becomes only the second woman in tennis history  to have won all four grand slams and the Olympic gold medal.

I spent the rest of the day at Center Court watching the men's doubles finals followed by the semifinals of the women's doubles match, featuring the Williams sisters again. What a lovely tennis day!!
From Wimbledon, with love......

The Bryan brothers win gold in men's doubles and the french men win silver and bronze in doubles.

The Williams sisters warm up to play the doubles semi-finals, they won in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4

From Wimbledon, with love......

(Photos: courtesy of Scramble for Gold)

Ethiopia becomes 2nd African country to secure a Gold Medal

Dibaba celebrates her Gold medal win !

Ethiopia becomes only the 2nd African country, after South Africa to grab a gold medal in the 2012 Olympic Games. 27 year old Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia defended her Olympic 10,000m title with a dominant display at the Olympic park, grabbing Ethiopia's first gold medal.

Way to go Tirunesh!! Hope you grab one more in the 5,000m.


(Photos courtesy of London2012.com)

African Women Looking Sharp on Day 1 of Athletics



Earlier today, Amantle Montsho of Botswana produces the best time in the 400m  Round 1


The most exciting part of the Games have just begun! The Athletics events (Track, High jump, Shot put, Horizontal jumps, and Throws), which take place inside the Olympic Park kicked off today.  Reigning world champion in the 400m, Amantle Montsho, lived up to expectations as she produced the fastest time of round 1, a comfortable 50.40 saunter.  Most of the African female athletes have been very sharp today, making big strides toward their Scramble for Gold! Below is a summary of those who made it through.

Women's 400m
Amantle Montsho of Botswana qualified to the semi-finals (semifinals Sat Aug 4th)
Joy Sakari of Kenya qualified to the semi-finals (semifinals Sat Aug 4th)
Omolara Omotosho of Nigeria qualified to the semi-finals (semifinals Sat Aug 4th)
Tjipekapora Herunga of Namibia qualified to the semi-finals (semifinals Sat Aug 4th)
Regina George of Nigeria qualified to the semi-finals (semifinals Sat Aug 4th)

Women's 100m
Feta Ahamada of Comoros qualified to Round 1 (Round 1 7pm tonight)
Bamab Napo of Togo qualified to Round 1 (Round 1 7pm tonight)
Delphine Atangana of Cameroon qualified to Round 1 (Round 1 7pm tonight)
Lorene Bazolo of Congo qualified to Round 1 (Round 1 7pm tonight)
Saruba Colley of Gambia qualified to Round 1 (Round 1 7pm tonight)

Interview with Christine Manie

While attending the New Zealand Vs. Cameroon match in Coventry, I got a chance to catch up with Christine Manie, a defender on the Cameroon women's soccer team. When she's not playing with the Lionesses, she is with her football club  in Romania, Negrea Resita. Here is her take on their last match at the Olympics. Enjoy !

(Thanks to my dear cousin, Alice Ntam for recording the interview) 

Archery - Did you know?

 

Ahmed El-Nemr of Egypt defeats Canada's Crispin Duenas in the  1st Round of the Men's Individual Archery Elimination

Do you participate or understand the sport of archery? If your answer is "no", please find comfort in the fact that you may not be the only one. I just learned of the sport and yes, Africans are competing in archery at the 2012 Olympics.  Ahmed El-Nemr of Egypt made it to the 2nd round of the men's individual competition but lost yesterday to Kuo Cheng-Wei of Chinese Taipei.

Fun Fact for the Day : Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat, while in modern times, its main use is that of a recreational activity. A person who participates in archery is typically known as an "archer" or "bowman", and one who is fond of or an expert at archery can be referred to as a "toxophilite. Archery had its debut at the 1900 Summer Olympics and has been contested in 14 Olympiads. Eighty three different nations have appeared in the Olympic archery competitions, with France appearing the most often at 11 times.

The Cameroon Lionesses Bow Out of the Olympics Without a Win



The Cameroon Lionesses strategize at Coventry Stadium,  hoping to grab one win!

Still recovering from my trip to Coventry. But I must give one last shout-out to the Lionesses of Cameroon. Tough to say, but I watched the physically fit but tactically lacking Cameroon women's football team take another tough loss, as they wrapped up their 1st ever showing at the Olympic Games. The Coventry stadium was full of green, red and yellow colored outfits, mostly Cameroon fans hoping they could grab one win against the New Zealand women's team. Unfortunately, the Lionesses only had brave hearts last night and no brave plays! They lost the match 3-1 and that officially put them out of the competition. Tough loss but lets hope there will be lessons learned! Du Courage mes soeurs!




Gabrielle Onguene, a Forward, warming up before the match



They gave it their all, but that was not enough.



Devoted Cameroon fans. Gotta love it !!



Allez "les Lionesses" !!

(Photos courtesy of Scramble For Gold)

Africans Shine in Rowing

Paul Etia-Ndoumbe of Cameroon competes in the men's semi-final

A sport known to very few in Africa and definitely a sport with a very low participation rate, Olympians from Cameroon, Niger and Zimbabwe were impressive in the Rowing  Men's Single Sculls at Eton Dorney today.

In the semi-final E group, Hamadou Djibo-Issaka of Niger finished 4th  while Zimbabwe's James Fraser-Mackenzie finished 3rd and Cameroon's Paul Etia-Ndoumbe finished 5th in the semi-final E group.

Fun fact : Rowing is ranked as one of the most difficult sports in the world according to ESPN.

Hamadou Djibo-Issaka of Niger competes in  the Men's semi-final

(Photos courtesy of London2012.com)

Van der Burgh - 1st African to Scramble For Gold

                        


South Africa's Cameron Van der Burgh stopped the drought of no medals won by an African Country when he won gold in the men's 100-meter breaststroke on Sunday. Not only did he collect gold, he set a world record by clocking 58.46 seconds, better than anyone else has even clocked in this swimming event.

Great job Cameron ! we hope the other African athletes follow suit.

On the overall medal count, China leads with 17 medals (9 Gold), USA comes 2nd with 17 medals (5 Gold) and France comes 3rd with 7 medals (3 Gold).

(Photo courtesy of Super Sport)


           

Meet Ons Jabeur - The Lone Female Tennis Olympian from Africa

The 17 year Ons Jabeur is about to grab the 1st set from Sabine Lisicki 

Far from home, the 17 year old Ons Jabeur from Tunisia is the only female tennis player from Africa competing in the 2012 Olympics. I took immediate interest in her match once I saw the schedule of play for today at Wimbledon park. It was one of those days where both the players and the fans needed patience in abundance! A very very rainy London kinda day! Jabeur's match against Germany's Sabine Lisicki  was initially set to start at 1.30pm on Court 12 but finally started around 6.30pm after several rain delays. I managed to keep busy watching matches on center court and eating strawberries and cream. But it was worth the wait, at least for the few games I saw. Jabeur started a bit slow, falling 0-2 and later on finding her game to break Lisicki's serve, and led 4-3 before the match was suspended for the day due to darkness. During the 33 minutes of play, I saw the young talent from Tunisia show some bold and tricky play. Returning first serves with a drop shot and sneaking in a squash forehand from the centre of the court. She was definitely throwing Lisicki (ranked world #15) off her rhythm. Jabeur, who was ranked outside the top 1000 at the beginning of the year, has moved to world #297 in only 7 months. I need not say more, the kid has got game! And Sabine Lisicki is about to find out when the match resumes on Monday at Wimbledon Park.

I caught up with Ons Jabeur for a few minutes after the match was suspended and here is what she had to say:

Giving thumbs up to Jabeur for representing Africa Tennis

Scramble For Gold: You have such a good game. Did you go through the Olympics qualification or you got selected by the International Tennis Federation (ITF)?


Ons Jabeur: Thanks. I was given a wild card by the ITF


Scramble For Gold: How does it feel knowing that you are the only African female tennis player competing at the Olympics?


Ons Jabeur: I feel very proud. There is also a male tennis player from Tunisia competing. His name is Malek Jaziri.


Scramble For Gold : Great to know. Well, I know you have had an exhausting day with the rain,so I'll cut it short. But "du courage" for the rest of the match tomorrow.


Ons Jabeur: Thanks


And that was the end of my brief encounter with the teen sensational as she left the court.

Ons Jabeur mixing it up as she sets up to hit a one-handed slice backhand

She's got a solid serve too !

                           And it is never really a true day at Wimbledon without a rain delay :-)

(Photos courtesy of Scramble For Gold)

Day 1 : Africa Village makes its debut at London's Kensington Gardens

Giving my signature thumbs-up to Africa Village!! 

A few days ago, I blogged about Africa Village. An outdoor lounge where African sport authorities will showcase the cultural and sporting riches of their respective countries during the Olympics. Today, I am blogging live from Africa Village in the heart of London's Kensington Gardens. Surrounded by the Russia House and the Czech Republic House, the Africa Village was filled with a warm and energetic ambiance and the unique decor of each country was most amazing to absorb. In true African fashion, some countries were still setting up their booths. Big surprise there! But majority of the countries were ready and set to go! Some countries went for a museum look, others went for a lounge look and some went for both!  Unfortunately,there were no African athletes on site today and the village was only open to the media today. The village will be open to the public beginning Sunday July 29. Enjoy!




Day 1- Inside the Africa Village

 

I liked the Libya house, cozy and welcoming

The Cameroon house was colourful!They did not hesitate to showcase Eto's jersey as a work of Art  :-)

hmmm...i wondered if the Uganda crew didn't make it to London yet but i think i saw them at the Opening Ceremony :-) 

Algeria House was jamming!

The Gabon house has beautiful artwork!

Botswana house had a fresh feel to it! love it!

The Nigeria house definitely went for a lounge feel!! E no easy oh!

The Ivory Coast house was very colourful !

My favorite was the Tunisia house! Soo chic and elegant!



Chilling in my favorite house, the Tunisia house.



I was loving the Rwanda house !! can you tell? Its soo original !!




The Morocco house was very culturally rich!



The set-up of the Togo house was still in progress...coming up good though :-)

Ethiopia house was beautiful !!



The Egypt house had their doors covered. Looks nice from the outside though :-)



And off we go...what a busy day :-)



(Photos courtesy of : Scramble For Gold)