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)