Thirty-five African countries are returning home empty-handed after spirited efforts in the just concluded Paris Olympics.
It’s indeed painful to the respective countries’ governments spending huge amounts of money but they shoot blanks in the Games.
What’s even more painful and frustrating is that of the 35 African countries that failed to win a medal, 23 of them have never medalled in the Olympic Games.
In addition to Rwanda and DR Congo, other African countries still barren in the Olympics without a single medal are Angola, Benin, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia and South Sudan.
Take note it’s not only in Africa but there are over 50 countries worldwide yet to win a medal in the Olympic Games.
Spare a thought for these countries. How do their citizens feel watching smiling athletes from other countries on the podium receiving their medals during the Olympics?
“It’s frustrating, definitely,” says Marco Luque, a member of Bolivian Olympic Committee and president of the country’s athletics federation quoted by Kxan Sports online publication.
“And you feel the impotence, not being able to do better.”
There’s also another group of African countries that are going through long dry spells in the Olympics after once winning medals while others have won bronze and silver but no gold so far.
Tanzania, Senegal and Ghana belomg to this group.
It’s 44 years now since Tanzania won two silvers at the 1980 Moscow Olympics through Philbert Bayi and Suleiman Nyambui but they’ve to win any medal after their Moscow success while Senegal have gone through 26 painful years without an Olympic Olympic medal from 1988 when El Hadji Amadou Dia Ba won 400m hurdles silver at the Seoul Olympics.
Ghana may have produced renowned boxers and sprinters but winning gold has become as difficult as birds flying without wings. So far they have one silver and four bronze medals, four of the medals coming from boxers, light-welterweight silver by Clement Quartey in the 1960 Rome Olympics and three bronze by light-welterweight Eddie Blay in 1964, middleweight Prince Amartey in 1972 Olympics and Samuel Sakyi’s featherweight bronze in Tokyo 2020. The other bronze is by their U23 football team in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
The countries without an Olympic medal should however not despair, and instead take solace in the five countries that won Olympic medals for the first time in Paris. They are Albania, Cape Verde, Dominica, St Lucia and Refugee Olympic Team.
Lucia and Dominica also won the their first gold with St Lucia’s 23-year-old Julien Alfred causing an upset in defeating US star sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson in winning 100m gold and later 200m silver. The celebrations that welcomed Julien’s triumph in Paris are a testament to the national fame and pride attached to success at the Olympic Games.
David Pina’s flyweight bronze was also wildly celebrated by Cape Verdeans. It was their first ever Olympic medal.
It’s time for the unsuccessful countries to take stock of their barren results and start immediate plans for the 2028 Olympics.
Critics have used the big stick on governments blaming them for failing to invest in disciplines they can excel.
For instance, Tanzania has produced outstanding long distance athletes but the government is still in deep slumber on cashing in on this asset.
Little wonder Monday’s, August 12, edition of The Citizen newspaper has delved deeper on what it describes as Tanzania’s national shame of going 44 years without an Olympic medal. Among the suggestions put forward is collaboration with successful neighbour in distance running, Kenya and opening a training camp in the high altitude Manyara area.
I wind up consoling my Nigerian friends whose 88 athletes did not win a medal in Paris but we can’t close our eyes on the immaculate performance of their women’s basketballers who made it to the quarters, world champion Tobi Amusan missing the 100m hurdles final by a whisker and Tokyo 2020 long jump bronze medallist Ese Brume leading other two athletes to the long jump finals with Brume finishing a creditable fifth position.
I know how it feels for such a richly talented sporting nation to miss even a single medal in the Olympics.
My advice to my buddy, renowned Nigerian boxing administrator Azania Omo-Agege, and other casualties still in pain take a lot of water and chew gum.
Credit: Nenez Media Services
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