Changing China

Kenya, Ethiopia reap rewards from hard work

Despite setbacks ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games, Kenya will leave Beijing in glory after capturing 5 gold medals, 5 silvers and four bronze in distance running.

Kenya’s hope for an Olympic marathon medal were dealt a blow when Robert Cheruiyot pulled out due to injury and three-times London marathon winner Martin Lel’s training was affected by flu. But Sammy Wanjiru saved the day and brought the marathon gold medal, proof that distance running is Africa’s forte.

Ethiopia, one of the poorest countries in the world, collected four gold, one silver and 2 bronze medals, showing that poverty does not have to stand in the way of great sportsmanship. Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba and Kenenisa Bekele both cruised to victory for the 10,000 and 5,000 metres, the first time the double has been achieved since the 1980 Games.

Kenya’s assistant athletics coach put it down to dealing with hardships from a young age and altitude, which helps the athletes deal with hot conditions.

“Our athletes have to walk long distances from a very young age to go to school unlike those in developed countries, so they just get used to it quite early,” Peter Mathu told Reuters. “We are very good at long distance because of the hardships we face. Training at high altitudes has also helped.”

Kenya and Ethiopia’s Olympic success stems from focusing on what they do best and a strong culture of athletics. While other countries see sports as a diversion Mathu said they start identifying and nurturing talent from Primary school.

Kenya and Ethiopia’s victory contrasts the underperformance of bigger teams such as Nigeria and South Africa, the latter having some of the best developed facilities on the continent.

Those moving medal moments…

Remember the Black Power salutes from the podium in Mexico 1968?

The 2008 Beijing Olympics medal ceremonies might not produce anything to match that, but there has been no shortage of drama so far.

In the full emotional spectrum, we have had:

Anger – Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian stormed off the podium to dump his bronze on the mat in a protest against referees.

Tragedy – German weightlifter Matthias Steiner promised his dying wife he would honour her in Beijing, and clutched his gold next to a photo of her.

Confusion – Gymnastics fans still had their calculators out to decipher how American Nastia Liukin came second to China’s He Kexin after their identical score of 16.725 was decided by a convoluted tiebreak system.

Joy – Russia’s flamboyant pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva was bouncing up-and-down almost as much as she did for her world-record jump when she took her gold prize.

African athletes finding medals hard to come by

One by one, African athletes at the Beijing Olympics have fallen by the wayside, with most not going beyond preliminary rounds five days into the Games.

With the exception of Zimbabwe’s swimmer Kirsty Coventry, who has collected three silvers, Algeria’s Soraya Haddad and Egypt’s Hesham Mesbah, who won judo bronze meals, and Benjamin Boukpeti, who got bronze in men’s singles kayak slalom for Togo, there have been no Africans on the podium.

And while Boukpeti and Coventry are competing for African countries, they are not based on the continent.

Fortunes may turn in the second week with athletics. Kenya, for example, is targeting at least six golds and Ethiopia may bag two medals from Tirunesh Didaba and Kenenisa Bekele in the 10,000 metres.

South Africa and Nigeria have the biggest African teams for Beijing, with 142 and 89 athletes respectively, but may leave the summer games empty-handed.

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, boxing coach for Namibia. “You cannot hope to compete with the other countries that have been preparing for years. Finance is also a big challenge. If you do not pay well, do not expect too much from them.”

Will Bahamas top medals table again?

There’s an interesting graphic at moreintelligentlife.com showing the medals table at the last Olympics in Athens, adjusted for each country’s population.

The Bahamas are top with Australia second and Cuba third, according to the site’s calculations. Australia were fourth in the unadjusted table, which I guess just highlights their extraordinary performances at the highest level in sport.

It’s early days here in Beijing, where China lead the ”real” medals table with two golds from three events. The big surprise there is that it’s not a 100 percent record. Du Li had been a strong favourite to repeat her success of Athens and win the opening gold of the Games in the 10m air rifle.

In the end, it seemed, the pressure was too great. You can get updates, and see all of our coverage of the Games, by clicking here.