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.

Nigeria’s team official Dony Nezianya was candid in admitting that Africa could learn from Kenya and Ethiopia. “Most of it is just better planning. Kenyans and Ethiopians work very hard at developing their talent and raising the level of their performance,” he said.

Nigeria got three bronze medals in women’s long jump and 4×100 metres relay and heavyweight taekwondo and a silver from soccer.

“We had expected to perform better so this calls for sober reflection on our part,” he said.

Perhaps embarrassed by getting only one silver medal in long jump after sending the biggest team ever to the Olympics, South Africans did not want to comment.

But sports development looked set to remain a challenge for the continent where funds are directed to more pressing issues as millions live in abject poverty. Athletes that are now competing for other countries on lucrative deals say the migration could continue if earning a living as remains difficult.

PHOTO: Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia leads the pack on her way to winning the women’s 5000m final at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 22, 2008. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

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.

Bitterness - Britain’s rowing quad were downcast and crying after the three-times world champions took dreaded silver instead of top spot.

Pain - Ouch! Turkey’s greco-roman wrestler Nazmi Avluca had an ice-pack on his knee and needed assistance on and off the podium to collect his bronze.

Friendship - Georgian and Russian shooters and medal-winners embraced despite their nations’ conflict. South and North Korean shooters shook hands too, though the latter was stripped of medals for doping.

Fortunately for the Chinese government, no medal winners have yet invoked the political spirit of Mexico to flash a “T” for Tibet.

With only a few days to go before the end, what have been your most moving medal moments in Beijing, or elsewhere in Olympic history?

PHOTO: Gold medallist Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia cries during the women’s pole vault medal ceremony of the athletics competition in the National Stadium at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 19, 2008. REUTERS/Mike Blake

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.”

Nigerian-born Francis Obikwelu started running for Portugal in 2000, frustrated with the difficulties of earning a living as an athlete in Africa.

“There is a lot of talent in Africa but you need more than that to make it at the Olympics,” the 29-year-old who will compete in the 100 metres and 200 metres told reporters.

“You should not have to worry about whether you will get paid or not and worry about raising money for a ticket to go to competitions. That is difficult for some of us because we have families to take care of.”

Unlike their other counterparts, Olympic medallists from Africa are unlikely to pocket big payouts.

Uganda’s press attache Norman Katende told Reuters their medallists would get “some kind of reward”.

“We do not want to put them under pressure so we do not tell them what they will get if they win a medal but they will get something,” he said not disclosing the amount.

PHOTO: Hesham Mesbah of Egypt bites his medal in the men’s -90 kg judo bronze medal contest A at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, August 13, 2008. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

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.