African Nations Going For Gold?

With the 2012 London Olympics off to a start, you might be wondering which games African athletes are participating in and how to keep up with them. Well, you are at the right place.

Starting with our longtime African favorite, soccer, we are fortunate to have an African team in every group: Senegal in group A, Gabon in group B, Egypt competing in group C and Morocco in group D (which, by the way, is also referred to by some as the ?group of death.?). Watch out now!

Not only will African men be converging on Olympic gold, but female teams will be fielded too. Cameroon and South Africa will be sending their female squad to compete on the soccer field as well.

But putting soccer aside briefly, most African nations do intend to send formidable delegates to the London games in a variety of events. Expect to see African teams playing ping pong and weightlifting, and even participating in lesser known events such as rowing, sailing, boxing,? taekwondo, archery and gymnastics.

Among African teams, South Africa will be fielding the largest and most diverse sports team with at least 112 athletes.?They will participate in everything from Equestrian sports to Field Hockey and Mountain Biking. Caster Semenya will be the lucky flag bearer of the delegation, which many would agree is a well deserved lucky break for her. Although South Africa ranked 70th at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, going home with only one medal? won by Khotso Mokoena, they hope to improve this tally at the London games. South Africa will also be participating in the 2012 Paralympics in various events from Athletics to Wheelchair tennis.

The giant of Africa, Nigeria, will be sending a delegation of 31 male and female athletes, who will participate mostly in track and field events. Nigeria will also be competing in group A of the men’s basketball tournament against group-mates: United States, Argentina, Lithuania, Tunisia and France. Those are definitely games to look forward to!

Now in case you are wondering if we forgot about long distance events, we would have you know that Ethiopia and Kenya (you probably already knew this) are also sending athletes to the games. Known for their agility and speed, ?they will probably do the best among African teams at the Olympics in terms of bringing home medals and standing on the podium.

There is a large assortment of Olympic events African teams will be participating in that cannot all be listed here. Keep your eyes peeled over the next two weeks and keep your hopes up in support.

Let us collectively hope that Africa loots plenty of precious metals from London. And for soccer fans worldwide, let us hope to score epicly at the games. What better way can you think of to end the summer?

To keep up with the games, visit:?LONDON 2012

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