Beijing Olympics 2008

The 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China takes place between August 8 and 24. This dossier focuses on the hopes, aspirations, and achievements of athletes from the African continent.

Kenyan Olympic champion Wilfred Bungei retires

Kenyan Olympic champion Wilfred Bungei retires

After 10 competitive years on the tartan tracks, Kenyan Olympic king Wilfred Bungei says he has decided to hang his spike shoes as champion. Speaking...
Kirsty Coventry : A good ‘white’ girl and a hypocrital ‘racist’ Mugabe

Kirsty Coventry : A good ‘white’ girl and a hypocrital ‘racist’ Mugabe

By the time you read this opinion piece, the Chinese 'Bird's Nest' may long have been deserted; the guns of Olympians silent and she...
Beijing Olympics : African medal list

Beijing Olympics : African medal list

Kenya, with 5 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze medals mostly from the long distance races, has emerged Africa's best team at the 2008...
Why Nigeria lost to Argentina

Why Nigeria lost to Argentina

Sergio Batista, the former Argentina World Cup winning player who coached his country to beat Nigeria 1-0 in the men's soccer gold at the...
Athlete protesting committee by abandoning race in action suspended

Athlete protesting committee by abandoning race in action suspended

The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) has announced an indefinite suspension of top sprinter Uchenna Emedolu after he deliberately sabotaged the country's men's 4x100...
Reports of Nigerian footballers washing their own jerseys at Olympics denied

Reports of Nigerian footballers washing their own jerseys at Olympics denied

The Nigeria Football Federation has blasted a report that the Nigeria U-23 team at the Olympics has been wearing only one jersey throughout. General Secretary...
Kenyan athlete drops dead as she is removed from Olympic list

Kenyan athlete drops dead as she is removed from Olympic list

The Kenya paralympic team head coach Herina Malit collapsed and died Thursday shortly after she was dropped from the Beijing-bound side. According to the Amputee...
Wildred Bungei another gold medal hope for Kenya

Wildred Bungei another gold medal hope for Kenya

Wildred Bungei was the fastest man Tuesday as he qualified in style for the 800 metres semi-final planned for Thursday in continuation of the...
Beijing Olympics : Nigeria stops Europe and goes for South America

Beijing Olympics : Nigeria stops Europe and goes for South America

It will be a clash of champions and rivals. A repeat of the 1996 Olympic finals as Nigeria and Argentina meet again on Saturday...
Football : Race for top goal scorer spot at Beijing Olympics

Football : Race for top goal scorer spot at Beijing Olympics

It is more than a contest for a place in Saturday's final match as Nigeria's Obinna Nsofor and Belgium's Moussa Dembele also have to...
Demise of Nigerian Olympic Badmington hopeful blamed on big appetite and overweight

Demise of Nigerian Olympic Badmington hopeful blamed on big appetite and overweight

The early elimination of Nigeria's national badminton champion Grace Daniel at the ongoing Beijing Olympics has been blamed on ''overweight''. "The player arrived five days...
Françoise Mbango Etoné consoles Cameroon football enthusiasts

Françoise Mbango Etoné consoles Cameroon football enthusiasts

The streets of Douala were flooded with Cameroonians, Sunday night, celebrating the women’s triple jump gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Games by Francoise...
Football Beijing Olympics : FIFA site favours Brazil over Nigeria

Football Beijing Olympics : FIFA site favours Brazil over Nigeria

If the poll conducted by FIFA on its website is anything to go by, Nigeria may just pick either the silver or bronze medal...
Jamaican Usain Bolt sets new record but can he run faster ?

Jamaican Usain Bolt sets new record but can he run faster ?

Jamaica’s Usain Bolt, who prior to this season had not run a 100-metre race as a senior, won the ultimate sprint prize, the Olympic...
Ethiopia questions China’s suitability to hold Beijing Olympics

Ethiopia questions China’s suitability to hold Beijing Olympics

Joining China's critics, an Ethiopian business weekly, Capital, described the on-going Olympic games in Beijing as the most controversial in the tradition of 'international...
Football : Nigeria meets Ivory Coast in Beijing Quarter-final

Football : Nigeria meets Ivory Coast in Beijing Quarter-final

The Nigerian side will travel 272 kilometres east of Bei jing to Qinhuangdao to face fellow Africans, Cote D’Ivoire, in the quarter-finals of the...
Football : Three African teams in Beijing Olympics quarter-final

Football : Three African teams in Beijing Olympics quarter-final

Former Olympic men’s football gold mediallists Cameroon have been joined by Nigeria and the Elephants of Cote d'Ivoire to advance to the quarter-final of...
Only three African countries on Beijing Olympics medal table

Only three African countries on Beijing Olympics medal table

Only three African nations have registered their presence on the medals table as the 2008 Beijing Olympics enter the fifth day in China Tuesday. Only...
African football teams stay solidly on track at Beijing Olympics

African football teams stay solidly on track at Beijing Olympics

It was a great day for Africa at the Beijing Olympics men's football event Sunday, as Cameroon and Cote d'Ivoire both recorded their first...
Nigeria gets gold at Beijing Olympics as US gets stripped

Nigeria gets gold at Beijing Olympics as US gets stripped

Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) officials said Sunday that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has awarded the 2000 Sydney Olympics Men's 4x400m gold to Nigeria,...
Nigeria : a prime European target at Beijing Olympics

Nigeria : a prime European target at Beijing Olympics

Nigeria's men's team to Beijing Olympics, tagged Dream Team IV, is the prime target of Europe's determination to end its 16-year gold medal drought...
Moroccan athletes promise to deliver

Moroccan athletes promise to deliver

49 Moroccan athletes, 38 men and 11 women, selected to take part in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games have promised to bring medals home....
Carl Lewis : Profile of an Olympic legend

Carl Lewis : Profile of an Olympic legend

Carl Lewis, holder of nine gold medals, was born in Alabama in 1961 and was introduced to athletics at an early age by his...
Hastings Bwalya’s passport dilemma ahead of Beijing Olympics

Hastings Bwalya’s passport dilemma ahead of Beijing Olympics

Hastings Bwalya, Zambia’s gold medal hopeful at next month’s Beijing Olympics is still without a passport almost a month after passing through the country...
World 800m champion starts training at Olympic camp

World 800m champion starts training at Olympic camp

World 800m champion Janeth Jepkosgei joined the Kenya Olympic sprinters camp as Athletics Kenya (AK) announced plans to revamp the sprinters' training programme to...
Kenya names Beijing Olympic team

Kenya names Beijing Olympic team

Reigning men's 800 metres World champion Alfred Kirwa and 2007 All-Africa Games 1500m gold medalist Asbel Kiprop are among a galaxy of Kenyan stars...
Flag of Kenya

Cheruiyot leads Kenya Olympic marathon squad

Four-time Boston Marathon winner Robert Cheruiyot will lead the Kenyan team to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games marathon. Cheruiyot, who posted his fourth Boston marathon...
Five boxers from Ghana to represent Africa at Olympics

Five boxers from Ghana to represent Africa at Olympics

Five Ghanaian boxers will hoist their national flag when t he boxing segment of the Beijing Olympic Games gets underway later in the year. The...