In the recent 2024 Olympics, held in Paris, France, the continent of Africa featured no less than 991 Athletes across the various sports. These included Athletics, Boxing, Cycling, Fencing, Football, Gymnastics, Rugby, Swimming, Taekwando, Tennis, Wrestling, and Weightlifting.
The continent’s athletes managed to win a total of 35 medals from 12 National Olympic committees. Kenya topped the African Medal Table with a total of 11 medals. This nation held 17th position in the overall medal rankings. In total African athletes brought home 13 Gold Medals, 12 Silver Medals and 14 Bronze Medals.
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Some of the notable performances by African athletes include the following:
- A sterling performance by Letsile Tebogo of Botswana who won Africa’s first Gold medal in 200m and an African Record.
- The Youngest ever Olympic 800m Champion of Kenya Emmanuel Wanyonyi
- Marathon Gold medal by the Tamirat Tola of Kenya
- The 1500m Gold medal and the Olympic Record by Faith Kipyegon
- Beatrice Chebet made history by being a double Gold medallist in 500m and 10 000m.
An addition the men’s Basketball SSD team managed to reach the Quarter-Finals for their very first participation in the Olympics. Another notable achievement was the Nigerian Women’s team – who became the first African team to ever reach the Quarter finals.
The continent’s first medal of Paris 2024 came on day one in rugby sevens, when South Africa took men’s bronze with their victory over Australia at the Stade de France.
One of the most emotional victories by far came in the artistic gymnastics competition, where an athlete from Africa stood out, bringing to the continent an historic gold medal. She shone brightly even among star names like USA’s Simone Biles and Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade.
Kaylia Nemour of Algeria showed incredible talent on the uneven bars, and became the first Algerian and African gymnast to ever win an Olympic medal.
Another outstanding African Olympic champion was South Africa’s Tatjana Smith. 2024 turned out to be her final Olympic Games. Aged 27, this amazing swimmer from Pretoria won gold in the women’s 100m breaststroke. Just three days later she won a silver medal in the 200m breaststroke.
Africa also won two medals in fencing: Mahmoud Elsayad of Egypt won bronze in the men’s epee individual while Fares Ferjani won silver for Tunisia in the men’s sabre individual.
African teams have also shown their strength on the global stage. In football, the men’s bronze-medal match was an all-African affair featuring Morocco and Egypt, guaranteeing either nation their first Olympic medal in the beautiful game.
Africa’s Olympic success also included South Sudan’s men’s basketball team, which made their Olympic debut at Paris 2024. Not only that, but they won their first ever game by defeating Puerto Rico 90-79 on 28 July.
How long must Africa wait?
However just on question remains – How long must Africa wait before hosting the Olympic Games? Since its resurrection in 1896 by Pierre de Coubertin, the most prestigious sporting event has never been staged in this vast part of the world.
A former Senegalese swimmer who took part in the Seoul (1988) and Barcelona (1992) Olympics, Mohamed Diop, has been quoted as giving the answer to this question: “We can’t say it’s sad or an anomaly. Given the scale of the Olympics, it’s understandable. We have to be realistic,” he said.
The Algerian president of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa, Mustapha Berraf, agreed with Diop. He said: “The explanation is simple and clear: The infrastructure is not up to scratch.”
This is why few countries on the African continent have even attempted to attract the Olympics. Over a century ago, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) chose Berlin for its 1916 edition – eventually cancelled due to the First World War – rather than the legendary city of Alexandria (Egypt was then under British occupation). In 1997, Cape Town could well have been awarded the 2004 Olympics, but the South African seaside city was eliminated in the fourth round of voting in favour of Athens. “It’s going to change,” said Berraf, who is also an IOC member. “I’ve seen attitudes change over the last few decades.”