BEIJING // One by one, African athletes have fallen by the wayside, with most not going beyond preliminary rounds. With the exception of Zimbabwe's swimmer Kirsty Coventry, who has collected two silvers, Algeria's Soraya Haddad who won bronze in the 52 g judo, and Togo's Benjamin Boukpeti who got bronze in the men's singles kayak slalom, there have been no Africans on the podium.
"The level of competition was very tough," said Senegal's Keita Mamadou, the only African fencer in the second round of the men's individual sabre. Medal hopes are high for the continent in the athletics, mainly taking place in the second week of the Games. Kenya, for example, is targeting at least six golds in distance running. But competitors in tennis, badminton and canoeing have been beaten, including those from South Africa, which boasts the best sporting facilities on the continent.
South Africa and Nigeria have the biggest African teams for Beijing, with 142 and 89 athletes respectively, but many countries have only a handful of competitors. Some participants blame inadequate preparation, poor technical support and a lack of finance for the lacklustre performance. "You do not start preparing for the Olympics a few months before you come," said Muatara Kaunda, the boxing coach for Namibia.
"You cannot hope to compete with the countries that have been preparing for years. "Finance is also a challenge. If you do not pay well, do not expect too much from them." Nigerian-born Francis Obikwelu started running for Portugal in 2000, frustrated with the difficulties of earning a living as an athlete in Africa. "There is a lot of talent in Africa but you need more than that to make it at the Olympics," he said.
"You should not have to worry about whether you will get paid or not and worry about raising money for a ticket to go to competitions. "That is difficult for some of us because we have families to take care of." Unlike their other counterparts, Olympic medallists from Africa are unlikely to pocket big payouts. Uganda's press officer Norman Katende said their medallists would get "some kind of reward".
"We do not want to put them under pressure so we do not tell them what they will get if they win a medal. But they will get something," he said, but would not disclose the amount. * Reuters
