SANF 04 no 82
African athletes may have returned home with a few medals from the 2004 Olympic Games held in Athens, Greece, but the potential was there for the world to see. With more resources and better facilities, there is nothing to stop the talented athletes from competing at par with those from other continents.
Perhaps the lesson to come out of the games is that more efforts on the continent should be geared towards supporting athletes through comprehensive sports development programmes, in addition to financial resources.
Despite being underdogs to their competitors who are often well funded and well prepared for the international arena, African athletes still managed to hold their own.
Ethiopia won two golds and seven medals overall. Next up was Morocco, which took two golds and three medals overall. Kenya picked up one gold out of a total of seven medals, South Africa followed with six and then Egypt with five medals.
Zimbabwe was in sixth place, followed by Cameroon and then Nigeria, whose two bronze medals on the eve of the final day of the Olympics were their first of the games. Finally, Eritrea added on to the table with their first-ever Olympic medal.
From the list of African countries that won medals, only two are from the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Swimmer Kirsty Coventry won all three medals for Zimbabwe.
As widely expected, America topped the medals table, with 35 gold and 103 medals overall. Ethiopia, the highest placed African nation is in 28th position on the medals table.
Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, and lately South Africa dominated African rankings at previous games, staged in Los Angeles in 1984, Seoul 1988, Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000.
Mozambique’s Maria Mutola and Namibian Frankie Fredricks, who were widely tipped to win medals, failed on the last hurdle despite their impressive performance in the qualifiers, and their decorated history over the last decade.
African athletes look up to their National Olympic Committees (NOCs) to assist them in their preparations for games. However, it would appear that a challenge remains for the committees to mobilise sufficient resources to effectively carry out their mandate, which includes sport development at all levels.
More than 200 countries participated at the world’s biggest sporting event, competing in 37 sporting disciplines. The Olympic games attracted up to 10,500 athletes, accompanied by 5,500 team officials.
The next Olympics will be held in Beijing, China, in 2008. (SARDC)
