Algeria
Official Name: People's Democratic
Republic of Algeria
Capital: Algiers
Currency: Algerian dinar
Official Language: Arabic
Population: 33,333,216
GDP per capita (in US$): 7,124
Algeria first appeared at the Olympics in 1964 in Tokyo, and
aside from the 1976 Montreal Olympics, which they boycotted, they have
been an ever present at the games. Since their first appearance in 1964
they have bagged a total of 14 medals (four gold, two silver and eight
bronze) with their highest profile athlete undoubtedly Noureddine
Morceli, the winner of the men’s 1500m at Atlanta in 1996.
Angola
Official Name: Republic of Angola
Capital: Luanda
Currency: Kwanza
Official language(s): Portuguese
Population: 15,941,000
GDP per capita (in US$): 2,813
Angola has competed in seven Summer Olympic Games and no
Winter Games. They made the first appearance at the games in Moscow in
1980, skipped Los Angeles in 1984 and have attended each subsequent
addition. Although they have yet to win an Olympic medal their showing
has been increasingly impressive with the number of Angolan athletes
qualifying for the games increasing with each event.
Benin
Official Name: Republic of Benin
Capital: Porto Novo
Currency: West African franc
Official language(s): French
Population: 8,439,000
GDP per capita (in US$): 1,176
Benin first appeared at the Olympics in Munich in 1972,
competing as Dahomey. They made their first appearance as Benin in 1980
and have attended each subsequent staging of the games. Despite their
regular attendance they have yet to win a medal with their best hope in
2008, the 200m sprinter Fabienne Feraez failing to place.
Botswana
Official Name: Republic of Botswana
Capital: Gaborone
Currency: Pula
Official language(s): English, Setswana
Population: 1,839,833
GDP per capita (in US$): 11,400
Although they made their first appearance at the Olympics in
Moscow in 1980, Botswana have never managed to bring home a medal. They
do however have a Gold Paralympic medal to their name after their sole
representative at the 2004 Athens Paralympics, Tshotlego Morama, came
first with a world record time of 55.99 in the women's 400m T46 sprint.
Burkina
Faso
Official Name: Burkina Faso
Capital: Ouagadougou
Currency: West African franc
Official Language: French
Population: 13,228,000
GDP per capita (in US$): 1,284
Burkina Faso first sent athletes to the Munich Olympic Games
back in 1972 when they competed under their former name, Upper Volta.
They failed to attend the next three iterations of the event but were
back as Burkina Faso in 1988. They have sent athletes to every games
since but despite their regular attendance they have yet to win a
medal.
Burundi
Official name: Republic of Burundi
Capital: Bujumbura
Currency: Burundi franc
Official language(s): Kirundi, French
Population: 7,548,000
GDP/capita (US$): 739
Burundi took a long time to make their debut at the Olympic
games, only attending for the first time in 1996 in Atlanta. They have
attended every subsequent staging of the games but the gold medal won
by Vénuste Niyongabo in the men's 5000m in Atlanta remains their only
medal to date. Niyongabo is without a doubt the best athlete ever to
emerge from Burundi and aside from his Olympic gold he also boasts the
sixth fastest time of a mile in history, just behind Hicham El
Guerrouj, Noah Ngeny, Noureddine Morceli, Steve Cram and Daniel Komen.
Cameroon
Official name: Republic of Cameroon
Capital: Yaoundé
Currency: Central African franc
Official language(s): French, English
Population: 17,795,000
GDP/capita (US$): 2,421
Cameroon first attended the Olympic Games in 1964 in Tokyo.
Unlike most other African nations they have attended every staging
since then, including the controversial Montreal games of 1976 which
were boycotted by almost every other African nation in response to the
attendance of New Zealand who still had sporting links with Apartheid
South Africa. They everntually bowed to pressure and withdrew from
those games after three days of participation. with five medals to
their name Cameroon first tasted success in the ring when welterweight
Joseph Bessala claimed silver in Mexico in 1968. Another boxing medal
followed 16 years later in Los Angeles when Martin Ndongo-Ebanga took
bronze. Thereafter it was gold or nothing for the West African nation
as triple jump ace Françoise Mbango Etone won the women's title in 2004
and again in 2008, while in 2000 a star-studded side that included
Samuel Eto'o, Geremi, Lauren and Carlos Kameni won the football.
Cape Verde
Official name: Republic of Cape Verde
Capital: Praia
Currency: Cape Verdean escudo
Official language(s): Portuguese
Population: 420,979
GDP/capita (US$): 6,418
Cape Verde made their Olympic debut as recently as 1996. They
have sent small squads to each subsequent games with their strongest
event traditionally the men's marathon where Nelson Cruz achieved the
country's best ever finish of 48th in Beijing in 2008. They have yet to
win a medal of any colour.
Central
African Republic
Official name: Central African Republic
Capital: Bangui
Currency: Central African CFA franc
Official language(s): Sango, French
Population: 4,216,666
GDP/capita (US$): 1,198
The Central African Republic first sent representatives to the
Olympics as long ago as Mexico City in 1968. They failed to win
anything in that first appearance and after skipping the next three
iterations they were back again in 1984 for the games in Los Angeles
when Adolphe Ambowodo placed 70th in the marathon with a time of
2:41:26. Ambowodo returned four years later in Seoul where despite
improving on his time and his placing he was still well outside the
medal placings. Indeed the Central African Republic has yet to win a
medal at the Olympics, despite attending each staging of the games
since 1984.
Chad
Official name: Republic of Chad
Capital: N'Djamena
Currency: Central African CFA franc
Official language(s): French, Arabic
Population: 10,146,000
GDP/capita (US$): 1,519
London 2012 will be the eleventh staging of the Olympic to
which Chad has sent athletes and they will be hoping that this time
round they will finally manage a medal. Chad made it game’s debut in
Tokyo in 1976 and since then missed just the 1976 games in Montreal and
the 1980 games in Moscow. The closest any Chad athlete has come to a
medal was back in their debut games in 1976 when high jumper Mahamat
Idriss finished 9th with a jump on 2.09m.
Comoros
Official name: Union of the Comoros
Capital: Moroni
Currency: Comorian franc
Official language(s): Arabic, French,
Comorian
Population: 798,000
GDP/capita (US$): 1,660
Regular Olympic attendees since making their debut in 1996 in
Atlanta, no athlete from the little island nation has ever won a medal.
The first three Olympics attended by the Comoros saw their team
comprised solely of track and field athletes. In 2004 they added a
weightlifter to the squad for the first time, while Beijing in 2008 saw
them send a squad that featured a swimmer and two sprinters.
Ivory Coast
Official name: Republic of Côte d'Ivoire
Capital: Yamoussoukro
Currency: West African CFA franc
Official language(s): French
Population: 17,654,843
GDP/capita (US$): 1,600
Côte d'Ivoire, or the Ivory Coast as it if often called, has
sent athletes to all the Summer Games held since 1964 in Tokyo. They
only missed Moscow in 1980 when the joined the USA led boycott. In all
their years of competing only one athlete from the country has ever won
a medal, the late Gabriel Tiacoh, who took silver in the men's 400m in
1984. Tiacoh, a African champion over 400m passed away tragically from
viral meningitis in 1992 in Atlanta, Georgia at the age of just 29
years.
DR Congo
Official name: Democratic Republic of
the Congo
Capital: Kinshasa
Currency: Congolese franc
Official language(s): French
Population: 71,712,867
GDP/capita (US$): 774
The DRC has participated at the Olympics under more different
names than it has won medals. While it has yet to win a medal it has
attended the games under four different guises. It made its debut in
1968 in Mexico City, when it was known as Congo Kinshasa. Sixteen years
later in 1984, it was known as Zaire. They have been back for every
subsequent staging of the games and by Sydney in 2000, they were
competing as Democratic Republic of the Congo. The closest they have
come to a medal was in 2008 when Gary Kikaya placed 10th in the men's
400m.
Republic
of the Congo
Official name: Republic of the Congo
Capital: Brazzaville
Currency: Central African CFA franc
Official language(s): French
Population: 4,012,809
GDP/capita (US$): 3,919
The Republic of the Congo, competing as Congo, first
participated at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 1964. It has sent athletes
to compete in almost every games since then, missing only the 1968
Games and the widely boycotted 1976 Montreal Games. No athlete from the
Congo has ever won a medal. Athletes representing the Republic of Congo
have been drawn from a wide array of disciplines and in the last three
games they have fielded entrants into table tennis, judo, swimming,
track and field and fencing.
Djibouti
Official name: Republic of Djibouti
Capital: Djibouti
Currency: Djiboutian Franc
Official language(s): Arabic, French
Population: 906,000
GDP/capita (US$): 2,070
Djibouti has competed in 6 Olympic Games. They made their
debut in Los Angeles in 1984 and with the exception of Athens in 2004,
have been to each subsequent staging. Djibouti has only ever
participated in two codes, track and field and sailing and they boast a
single medal for the efforts. In Seoul, in 1988 Hussein Ahmed Salah
placed third in the men's marathon.
Egypt
Official name: Arab Republic of Egypt
Capital: Cairo
Currency: Egyptian Pound
Official language(s): Arabic
Population: 80,335,036
GDP/capita (US$): 4,836
Egypt boasts a long and proud association with the Olympics
having made their first appearance at the modern games as long ago as
the Stockholm Games of 1912. They have missed a few stagings of the
games since then, most notably in 1956 when they chose to protest the
Suez War. They also withdrew from the Montreal Games of 1976 after
three days of competition to join the African protest against the
presence of New Zealand. Over the course of their century-long
association with the games Egypt has won a total of 24 medals (seven
gold, seven silvers and 10 bronze), with their greatest successes
coming in weightlifting and wrestling categories where they have won
nine and six medals respectively.
Equatorial
Guinea
Official name: Republic of Equatorial
Guinea
Capital: Malabo
Currency: Central African CFA franc
Official language(s): Spanish, French,
Portuguese
Population: 504,000
GDP/capita (US$): 16,312
Equatorial Guinea first participated at the Olympics in Los
Angeles in 1984. They have attended every subsequent Olympics although
they have yet to win a medal. As a general rule, athletes are
remembered for their strength, speed or bravery, but Equatorial
Guinea's most widely remembered athlete, Eric 'The Eel' Moussambani is
not remembered for any of those reasons. The swimmer achieved a degree
of fame in Sydney in 2000 when he swam his heat of the 100m freestyle
in an unbelievably slow time of 1:52.72. His time was more than twice
that of the next slowest competitor, and outside the 200 m world
record. On the plus side it was his personal best and national record.
Eritrea
Official name: State of Eritrea
Capital: Asmara
Currency: Nakfa
Official language(s): Tigrinya, Arabic,
English
Population: 5,880,000
GDP/capita (US$): 1,000
Eritrea first appeared at the Olympics in Sydney in 2000 when
they sent a three person squad comprised of long distance runners. They
have attended each subsequent games always with a strong long distance
running focus to their squad. Indeed they won their first, and to date
only, medal in 2004 in Athens when Zersenay Tadese, the current world
record holder in the half-marathon, took bronze in the men's 10000m
race.
Gabon
Official name: Gabonese Republic
Capital: Libreville
Currency: Central African CFA franc
Official language(s): French
Population: 1,384,000
GDP/capita (US$): 7,055
Boxer Joseph Mbouroukounda was the sole athlete to represent
Gabon when they made their games debut in 1972 in Munich. Having missed
the next two stagings of the Olympics Gabon was back in 1984 as they
have been at each subsequent staging of the games ever since. Despite
their regular attendance they have yet to win a medal. Interestingly
the Gambian squad that went to Los Angeles in 1984 was comprised
exclusively of women, sprinter Gisele Ongollo and shot putter, Odette
Mistoul.
Gambia
Official name: Republic of The Gambia
Capital: Banjul
Currency: Dalasi
Official language(s): English
Population: 1,517,000
GDP/capita (US$): 2002
Gambia has sent athletes to each staging of the event since
they made their debut in Los Angeles in 1984. They have never won a
medal and in fact none of their athletes has ever progressed beyond the
heats. Gambia has traditionally been represented in track and field but
on occasion they have entered athletes in the boxing and wrestling
competitions.
Ghana
Official name: Republic of Ghana
Capital: Accra
Currency: Ghanaian cedi
Official language(s): English
Population: 23,000,000
GDP/capita (US$): 2,700
Ghana first appeared at The Olympics under their old colonial
name, Gold Coast back in 1952 in Helsinki. They missed the next games
in 1956 and the boycotted events in Montreal and Moscow in 1976 and
1980 respectively, but aside from those rare absences, they have been
at every other staging of the games. Along the way Ghana has won four
medals, three coming for their feats in the boxing ring and one for
their efforts on the football field. Ghana's first ever medal was won
in 1960 in Rome when Clement Quartey won silver in the light
welterweight division. His silver remains the best result yet by a
Ghanaian athlete as all the subsequent medals were bronze.
Guinea
Official name: Republic of Guinea
Capital: Conakry
Currency: Guinean franc
Official language(s): French
Population: 9,402,000
GDP/capita (US$): 2,035
Guinea made their first appearance at the Olympics back in
Mexico City in 1968 when they were represented by their football team.
They missed out on sending athletes in 1972 and 1976 but were back for
Moscow in 1980 and have not missed a staging of the showpiece since
then. Their squad has traditionally been comprised of track and field
athletes and boxers. They have never won a medal.
Guinea-Bissau
Official name: Republic of Guinea-Bissau
Capital: Bissau
Currency: West African CFA franc
Official language(s): Portuguese
Population: 1,586,000
GDP/capita (US$): 736
Guinea-Bissau has sent athletes to every Olympics since
Atlanta in 1996. No athlete from the country has ever won a medal.
Their strongest codes are track and field and wrestling.
Lesotho
Official name: Kingdom of Lesotho
Capital: Maseru
Currency: Loti
Official language(s): Southern Sotho,
English
Population: 1,795,000
GDP/capita (US$): 2,113
Lesotho has sent athletes to every Olympics since 1972, with
the exception of the 1976 games in Montreal which were boycotted by
most African nations. Despite their regular appearance at the games no
athlete from the tiny mountain nation has ever managed a medal with the
best result by an Athlete from Lesotho being in 1996 when Thabisio
Ralekhetla finish 29th in the marathon - the only event in which
Lesotho have regularly been represented.
Liberia
Official name: Republic of Liberia
Capital: Monrovia
Currency: Liberian dollar
Official language(s): English
Population: 3,283,000
GDP/capita (US$): 1,003
Liberia has missed just three games since they made their
debut in Melbourne in 1956. Despite their regular attendance they have
yet to win a medal. They have also yet to enter an event other than
athletics where traditionally they have fielded runners in the sprint
events.
Libya
Official name: Republic of Libya
Capital: Tripoli
Currency: Libyan dinar
Official language(s): Arabic
Population: 6,036,914
GDP/capita (US$): 12,700
Libya made its Olympic debut in Tokyo in 1964 when they sent a
single athlete to compete. They followed a similar course of action
four years later with just a single athlete making the trip to Mexico
City. The North African nation missed out on Munich in 1972 and then
boycotted Montreal in 1976 before making a real show of things in
Moscow in 1980 by sending a squad of 32 athletes - the increase in
representation due largely to the presence of 22 volleyball players in
the squad. In 1984 they boycotted the Los Angeles Olympics but
thereafter they have been ever present. Despite the regularity of their
attendance Libya has never won a medal at the games.
