Africans at Paris 2024: Nigeria fails to win a single medal

With the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France, approaching, it was hoped that African countries would fare better than in the past, as they now would participate in more sports activities.

It's fair to mention that Africans excelled at this year's games, with the most notable performer being Botswana's Letsile Tebogo, who became the first African to win gold in the men's 200m, ending the dominance of Americans and Jamaicans.

In Africa, 12 countries managed to seize at least a medal and these were; South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Botswana, Algeria, Tunisia, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Zambia, Morocco and Egypt.

However, it was an Olympics to forget for countries like Nigeria and Ghana, who failed to win a single medal.

Here's how Africans fared at the Olympics

Kenya best in Africa

Kenya returned as the best performing African country, recording a total of 11medals, including 4 gold, 2 silver and 5 bronze. This overall performance surpassed that of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where the East African nation won 10 medals.

This year's outstanding performance also placed Kenya 17th out of 180 countries that participated in this year's Olympic Games.

Kenya's star at the Olympics was debutant Beatrice Chebet who won two gold medals in the women's 5000m and 10,000m.

On the other hand, middle-distance runner, Faith Kipyegon became the first athlete to win three consecutive gold medals in the women 1500m. Her latest 1500m gold medal also saw her set a new Olympic record of 3: 51:29 minutes.

Kenya's other gold medal was won by Emmanuel Wanyonyi in the men's 800m.

Algeria

Algeria's total of six medals (2 gold and a bronze) moved them to second in the African standings and 39th overall.

Algeria's most outstanding performer, was Kaylia Nemour, 17, who became the first African gymnast to achieve an Olympic victory after winning gold in the uneven bars category with 15:700 points.

The North African country claimed another gold in boxer, Imane Khelif who won women's featherweight final after defeating China's Yang Liu (5-0).

However, her victory was surrounded by controversy, with some, across social media questioning appropriateness of her gender.

Despite the backlash, Khelif won her gold medal and has since maintained that she was qualified to compete.

Djamel Sedjati won bronze in the men's 800m, completing the breakthrough for Algeria who had not won a medal in the previous Olympics.

South Africa

South Africa came to this year's Olympics looking to improve their performance from Tokyo, where they won three medals.

With a team of over 150 athletes, South Africa managed to win six medals thanks to a gold medal from swimmer and double Olympic champion, Tatjana Smith in the women's 100m breaststroke.

Smith, who is South Africa's most decorated Olympian in history, also won silver in the 200m breaststroke in what what she said was her last appearance at the Olympics.

The other three medals for South Africa came from the men's 4x100m relay (silver medal), women's javelin (silver won by Jo-Ane Van Dyk) while cyclist Alan Hatherly won bronze in the men's cross-country.

Meanwhile, South Africa continued to show their rugby dominance as they won a bronze medal in men's rugby sevens after defeating Australia 26-19.

The country's improved performance saw it finish 44th overall, up from 53rd at the 2022 Tokyo Olympics.

Ethiopia

Tola Abera's gold medal in the men's marathon saw Ethiopia finish 47th in the overall medal standings.

Abera clocked 2:6:26 hours to end Kenya's dominance in the race. Belgian Bashir Abdi and Kenyan Benson Kipruto won silver and bronze respectively.

In the women's marathon, Assefa Tessema won silver for Ethiopia after clocking 2:22:58 hrs just three seconds behind Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands.

Tsige Duguma and Berihu Aregawi won silver for Ethiopia in the women's 800m and men's 10,000m respectively.

Uganda's Cheptegei finally gets his revenge

The men's 10,000m this year was one of the most exciting races ever seen at the Olympics as Ugandan runner, Joshua Cheptegei, ran an Olympic record time of 26:43:14 minutes, to clinch gold.

Beaten to gold by Ethiopia's Selemon Barega in Tokyo, Cheptegei came to Paris desperate for revenge, and his devastating final 600m run saw him cruise to victory ahead of Ethiopia's Aregawi and American, Grant Fisher.

Cheptegei, who announced his Olympic retirement this year, described his latest gold medal win as the most special.

"I said, 'one day I want to be Olympic champion'. It is the most special day. I can’t describe the feeling. I’ve wanted this for a long time. When I took silver in Tokyo I was so disappointed. I just wanted to win the 10,000m," he said.

Meanwhile, Peruth Chemutai continued her good form as she won silver for Uganda In the women's 3000m steeplechase. The Tokyo Olympics champion ran a national best time of 8:53:34 minutes behind Bahrain's Winfred Yavi.

Hopes of more medals for Uganda were dashed when Cheptegei and world cross-country title holder, Jacob Kiplimo withdrew from the men's 5000m race.

Overall, it was a convincing performance for the Ugandan team, which finished 5th on the continent and 55th in the overall medal standings. In Tokyo Olympics, Uganda had finished 36th overall with 2 gold medals, one silver and one bronze.

Nigeria leaves empty-handed

It was a disappointing campaign for Africa's most populous nation, Nigeria, after they ended the games without a single medal.

Nigeria, who won a silver and bronze medals at the Tokyo Olympics, entered this year's games hoping to improve on their medal tally. However, this wasn't to be, as the West African country failed to win a single medal, in what many Nigerians described as the country's worst performance in years.

Despite the outcomes, some of athletes of Nigerian origin did their adopted countries proud by winning medals at the just ended Olympics.

Among these was hammer thrower, Annette Echikunwoke who represented the U.S.

It should be recalled that Echikunwoke failed to represent Nigeria at the Tokyo Olympics after she and 10 other Nigerian athletes were deemed ineligible by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for failing to comply with drug testing requirements in preparation for the games.

To realize her dream, Echikunwoke, switched her allegiance to the U.S, which she represented in Paris, winning them a silver medal in the women's hammer throwing.

After all, it was a campaign to forget for Nigeria whose team of 88 athletes did not win a single medal in the 12 sports categories that the country participated in at the Paris Olympics.