{"id":2742,"date":"2021-08-18T21:33:20","date_gmt":"2021-08-18T20:33:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/?p=2742"},"modified":"2021-08-18T21:33:21","modified_gmt":"2021-08-18T20:33:21","slug":"abysmal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/2021\/08\/18\/abysmal\/","title":{"rendered":"Abysmal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (August 12th<\/sup> 2021)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Success<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There were 339 events dishing out medals in the recently concluded 32nd<\/sup> Modern Olympiad in Tokyo. Africa has over a quarter of the countries in the world, but it won a measly 37 of the 1080 medals on offer \u2013 some extra medals were awarded. That is 3.43% which is considerably below the total in Rio de Janeiro just 5 years ago. Eleven of the 340 \u2013 the Men\u2019s high Jump title was shared – gold medals awarded were to Africans. The total of gold medals is even worse, just 3.24%. There were great performances, but the statistics are not lying<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twenty world records were set at these Olympic Games. Three track cycling records: three shooting, one sport climbing in the Women\u2019s speed event, six in swimming, three in track and field athletics and four in weightlifting \u2013 Georgia\u2019s Lasha Talakhadze set three in the Men\u2019s over 240 lbs \u2013 in the snatch, clean and jerk and total, but received just one gold medal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only one of them was by an African, South Africa\u2019s Tatjana Schoenmacher in the women\u2019s 200m breaststroke. However, Africa provided world beating athletes, especially in the long-distance athletics events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kenya\u2019s great Marathon runner Eliud Kipchoge retained his Olympic title and is the current world record holder. He is only the third male Marathon runner to do so. Compatriot Peres Jipchichir won the Women\u2019s Marathon. Uganda\u2019s Peruth Chemutai made history in the 3000m Steeplechase becoming her country\u2019s first female gold medallist. Almost half a century ago African legend, the late John Akii-Bua was the first Ugandan to win a gold medal in the Olympic Games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chemutai\u2019s compatriot Joshua Cheptegei won gold in the 5000m and silver in the 10000m, which made him the first Ugandan to win two medals in one Olympiad. He lost the 10000m to Ethiopia\u2019s Selemon Barega.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feryal Abdelaziz became the first Egyptian to win a gold medal. She achieved this feat in the 61Kg Karate Kemutai, which made its debut at this Olympic Games. Kenya\u2019s Faith Kipyegon won gold in the 1500m, ending the Ethiopian born Sifan Hassan\u2019s bid for three gold medals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tatjana Schoenmacher not only won South Africa\u2019s only gold medal, but she also set a world record \u2013 the only world record an African set in Tokyo\u2019s second Olympic Games (third in fact, as the cancelled Olympic Games of 1940 still counts). The 18-year-old Tunisian swimmer, Ahmed Hafnaoui, won gold in the 400m freestyle. Soufiane el Bakkali made history in the 3000m Steeplechase, becoming the first Moroccan to win an event usually dominated by Kenyans. The event produced a podium of Africans as Ethiopia\u2019s Lamecha Girma took silver and Kenya\u2019s Benjamin Kigen won the bronze medal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The great David Rudisha dominated the 800m in the last decade. He did not defend his title. Emmanuel Korir pipped compatriot Ferguson Rotich to produce a 1-2 for Kenya. Other notable performances included Burkina Faso\u2019s Hugues Fabrice Zango winning bronze in the Men\u2019s Triple Jump and Namibia\u2019s Christine Mboma won silver in the 200m. Nigeria\u2019s Ese Brume won bronze in the Women\u2019s Long Jump. But Nigerian sprinter, Blessing Okagbare, made unwanted news. She was the first Nigerian sent home in disgrace after she tested positive for human growth hormone (HGH)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Performance<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Of 13 boxing titles on offer \u2013 eight for men and five for women \u2013 only one of the 52 available medals, a bronze was won by an African, Ghana\u2019s featherweight, Samuel Takyi. And as for football both male and female, the performances are far below Africa\u2019s best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The women have an excuse \u2013 only one nation qualified, Zambia, despite two entrants in the last two Olympiads. The heroics of their captain Barbra Banda, the first female footballer to score a hat-trick in two consecutive matches. The Netherlands, also making their debut boasted top scorer, Viviane Miedema, with ten \u2013 she scored four in the 10-3 drubbing of Zambia and a brace each in the other three matches that she played. In the men\u2019s matches, both Egypt and la C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire reached the quarter-final and South Africa went home early after failing to win a point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1996 and 2000 Nigeria and then Cameroon won gold medals. And this raises a huge issue. African success in the Olympic Games comes in athletics most of all \u2013 football offers chances due to natural talent, but other sports?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solutions<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Success is sporadic they are not invested in. Without investment to develop facilities that can nurture talent, how can Africa expect to nurture and develop talent so it can compete. Meanwhile, wrestler Blessing Oborududu won silver, inspired by the President of Nigeria\u2019s Wrestling Federation Daniel Igali \u2013 he won gold in 2000 but for Canada, having switched nationality in 1998. His return is welcome, but his victory was part of the exodus. How can he stop young Nigerians following in his footsteps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gap will get wider, and Africa will slip further and further behind in many sports. If it is slipping behind in athletics its bread and butter, what chance does it have in other sports?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There were 339 events dishing out medals in the recently concluded 32nd Modern Olympiad in Tokyo. Africa has over a quarter of the countries in the world, but it won a measly 37 of the 1080 medals on offer \u2013 some extra medals were awarded. That is 3.43% which is considerably below the total in Rio de Janeiro just 5 years ago. Eleven of the 340 \u2013 the Men\u2019s high Jump title was shared – gold medals awarded were to Africans. The total of gold medals is even worse, just 3.24%. There were great performances, but the statistics are not lying<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2742"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2742"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2743,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2742\/revisions\/2743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}